2 CHROICLES 23 COMMETARYEDITED BY GLE PEASE

1 In the seventh year Jehoiada showed his strength He made a covenant with the commanders of units of a hundred Azariah son of Jeroham Ishmael son of Jehohanan Azariah son of Obed Maaseiah son of Adaiah and Elishaphat son of Zikri

BARES The five names do not occur in Kings only and incidentally the five divisions of the royal guard (2Ki_115 note)

CLARKE And in the seventh year - See on 2Ki_114 (note) etc

GILL The contents of this chapter are the same with 2Ki_114 and need no other explanation than what may be found in the notes there to which the reader is referredSee Gill on 2Ki_114 See Gill on 2Ki_115 See Gill on 2Ki_116 See Gill on 2Ki_117 See Gill on 2Ki_118 See Gill on 2Ki_119 See Gill on 2Ki_1110 See Gill on 2Ki_1111 See Gill on 2Ki_1112 See Gill on 2Ki_1113 See Gill on 2Ki_1114 See Gill on 2Ki_1115 See Gill on 2Ki_1116 See Gill on 2Ki_1117 See Gill on 2Ki_1118 See Gill on 2Ki_1119 See Gill on 2Ki_1120

HERY 1-11 We may well imagine the bad posture of affairs in Jerusalem during Athaliahs six years usurpation and may wonder that God permitted it and his people bore it so long but after such a dark and tedious night the returning day in this revolution was the brighter and the more welcome The continuance of Davids seed and throne was what God had sworn by his holiness (Psa_8935) and an interruption was no defeasance the stream of government here runs again in the right channel The instrument and chief manager of the restoration is Jehoiada who appears to have been 1 A man of great prudence who reserved the young prince for so many years till he was fit to appear in public and till the nation had grown weary of the usurper who prepared his work beforehand and then effected it with admirable secresy and expedition When God has work to do he will qualify and animate men for it 2 A man of great interest The captains joined with him 2Ch_231 The Levites and the chief of the fathers of Israel

came at his call to Jerusalem (2Ch_232) and were there ready to receive his orders See what a command wisdom and virtue will give men The Levites and all Judah did as Jehoiada commanded (2Ch_238) and which is strange all that were entrusted with the secret kept their own counsel till it was executed Thus the words of the wise are heard in quiet Ecc_917 3 A man of great faith It was not only common equity (much less his wifes relation to the royal family) that put him upon this undertaking but a regard to the word of God and the divine entail of the crown (2Ch_233) The kings son shall reign must reign as the Lord hath said His eye to the promise and dependence upon that added a great deal of glory to this undertaking 4 A man of great religion This matter was to be done in the temple which might occasion some breach of rule and the necessity of the case might be thought to excuse it but he gave special order that none of the people should come into the house of the Lord but the priests and Levites only who were holy upon pain of death 2Ch_236 2Ch_237 Never let sacred things be profaned no not for the support of civil rights 5 A man of great resolution When he had undertaken this business he went through with it brought out the king crowned him and gave him the testimony 2Ch_2311 He ventured his head but it was in a good cause and therefore he went on boldly It is here said that his sons joined with him in anointing the young king One of them it is likely was that Zechariah whom Joash afterwards put to death for reproving him (2Ch_2420) which was so much the more ungrateful because he bore a willing part in anointing him

JAMISO 2Ch_231-11 Jehoiada makes Joash king

in the seventh year Jehoiada took the captains of hundreds etcmdash (See on 2Ki_114 see on 2Ki_1117) The five officers mentioned here had been probably of the royal guard and were known to be strongly disaffected to the government of Athaliah

KampD 1-3 Joash raised to the throne and Athaliah slain - In 2 Kings 114-20 we have another account of these events in which the matter is in several points more briefly narrated and apparently differently represented According to both narratives the thing was undertaken and carried out by the high priest Jehoiada but according to 2 Kings 11 the high priest would appear to have mainly availed himself of the co-operation of the royal body-guard in the execution of his plan while according to the Chronicle it is the Levites and the heads of the fathers-houses who are made use of Thereupon De Wette Movers Thenius and Bertheau consequently maintain that the author of the Chronicle proceeding on the view that the high priest the chief of so many priests and Levites would not have recourse to the assistance of the royal body-guard has altered the statements in the second book of Kings accordingly and wishes to represent the matter in a different way But this assertion can be made with an appearance of truth only on the presupposition already repeatedly shown to be erroneous that the author of the Chronicle has made the account in 2 Kings 11 the basis of his narrative and designedly altered it and can scarcely be upheld even by the incorrect interpretation of various words That 2 Kings 11 is not the source from which our account has been derived nor the basis on which it is founded is manifest from the very first verses of the chroniclers narrative where the names of the five princes over hundreds with whose co-operation Jehoiada elaborated his plan and carried it into execution are individually enumerated while in 2 Kings 11 where the preparations for the accomplishment of the

work are very briefly treated of they will be sought for in vain But if on the contrary the two accounts be recognised to be extracts confining themselves to the main points excerpted from a more detailed narrative of the event from different points of view the discrepancies may be at once reconciled Instead of the short statement 2Ki_114 that the high priest Jehoiada ordered the centurions of the royal body-guard to come to him

in the temple (חובאי) made a covenant with them caused them to swear and showed

them the kings son we read in the Chronicle (2Ch_231-3) that the high priest Jehoiada took five centurions whose names are stated with historical exactitude into covenant with him ie sent for them and made a covenant with them and that these men then went throughout Judah and summoned the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel to Jerusalem whereupon Jehoiada with the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God and Jehoiada said to the people ldquoThe kings son shall be king as Jahve hath said of the sons of Davidrdquo That this more expanded narrative can without difficulty be reconciled with the summary statement in 2Ki_114 is perfectly manifest By various devices however Berth tries to bring out some discrepancies In the first place in the words ldquoJehoiada

sent and brought the princes of hundredsrdquo (2Ki_114) he presses the שלח which is not

found in the Chronicle translates it by ldquohe sent outrdquo and interprets it with 2Ch_232 of

the Chronicle in the second he takes הלל־ה in 2Ch_233 of the Chronicle to mean ldquothe

whole congregationrdquo whereas it denotes only the assembly of the men named in 2Ch_231 and 2Ch_232 and thirdly he opposes the expression ldquothey made a covenant with the kingrdquo (2Ch_233 Chron) to the statement (2Ki_112) that Jehoiada made a covenant to the princes by making this latter statement mean that Jehoiada made a covenant with the princes but not with the king as if this covenant concerning the coronation of Joash as king might not be called by a shorter mode of expression a covenant with the king especially when the declaration ldquothe son of the king shall reignrdquo follows immediately

BESO 2 Chronicles 231 And took the captains of hundreds mdash ot all but those here following in whom he put most trust But the contents of this chapter in general having occurred 2 Kings 11 where they are explained little need be said on them here

COFFMA This whole chapter along with the last three verses of the previous chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 11 In my commentary on 2Kings I have written 10 pages of comments about these events and I do not wish to add anything else here See pp 139-148 of my commentary in that volume There are a few unimportant variations but the narratives are essentially identical

ELLICOTT THE FALL OF ATHALIAH AD SUCCESSIO OF JOASH (Comp 2 Kings 114-20)

(1) Jehoiada strengthened himselfmdashShowed himself strong or courageous behaved boldly (1 Samuel 49) The chronicler has substituted a favourite expression (hithchazzaq) for the term used in Kings ldquoJehoiada sentrdquo

The captains of hundredsmdashTheir names added here are not given in 2 Kings 114 On the other hand Kings reads ldquothe captains of the hundreds of the Carians (or body-guard) and the Runners (or couriers ie royal messengers) ldquomdashterms which were probably obscure to the chronicler

Azariah and AzariahmdashHebrsquoAzaryacirch and lsquoAzaryacirchucirc (Comp 2 Chronicles 212) These names are introduced in the chronicler s well-known manner (by the prefix le marking the object of the verb) His style is very visible in the additions to the narrative as compared with Kings

GUZIK 1-7 2 CHROICLES 23 - JEHOIADA AD THE CROWIG OF JOASH

A The plan is put into practice

1 (2 Chronicles 231-7) Jehoiada and his plan to restore Joash to the throne of Judah

In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds Azariah the son of Jeroham Ishmael the son of Jehohanan Azariah the son of Obed Maaseiah the son of Adaiah and Elishaphat the son of Zichri And they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the chief fathers of Israel and they came to Jerusalem Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God And he said to them ldquoBehold the kingrsquos son shall reign as the LORD has said of the sons of David This is what you shall do One-third of you entering on the Sabbath of the priests and the Levites shall be keeping watch over the doors one-third shall be at the kingrsquos house and one-third at the Gate of the Foundation All the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD But let no one come into the house of the LORD except the priests and those of the Levites who serve They may go in for they are holy but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD And the Levites shall surround the king on all sides every man with his weapons in his hand and whoever comes into the house let him be put to death You are to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes outrdquo

a Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the captains Jehoiada was a godly man who was concerned with restoring the throne of David to the line of David and taking it away from this daughter of Ahab and Jezebel He was also the husband of Jehoshabeath the woman who hid the young boy Joash and protected him from the Athaliahrsquos massacre

i ldquoThe easiest thing for Jehoiada would have been to shut himself up in the temple and leave things to take their course The noblest thing was to come forth and boldly confront the rampant evil of his timerdquo (Meyer)

ii ldquoThe world is full of Athaliahs and it is not befitting that the Jehoiadas should remain at their holy rites and services if there is a paramount need for action in the worldrsquos battlefield in the strife against wrongrdquo (Meyer)

b Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God From the place where the oath was made and the context of the oath we learn that the worship of the true God was not dead in Judah These captains could respond to their responsibility before the LORD

c Behold the kingrsquos son shall reign This was a dramatic moment For six years everyone believed there were no more surviving heirs of Davidrsquos royal line and there was no legitimate ruler to displace the wicked Athaliah The secret had to be secure because the kingrsquos son would be immediately killed if his existence were revealed The captains must have been shocked by the sight of this six-year old heir to the throne

i One reason Athaliah was able to reign for six years was that no one knew any alternative Many people live under the reign of Satan because they donrsquot really know there is a legitimate king ready to take reign in their life

d This is what you shall do Jehoiada had a plan to depose the wicked Queen Athaliah and to replace her with the boy king These leaders needed to follow his plan carefully and to do it on the Sabbath Jehoiada chose the Sabbath for the day of the coup because that was the day when the guards changed their shifts and they could assemble two groups of guards at the temple at the same time without attracting attention

i ldquoIt was a weighty work he went about and therefore he took the wisest course the fittest time on the Sabbath when the congregation met and in the temple wither Athaliah and her courtiers seldom camerdquo (Trapp)

PULPIT This chapter records first those careful preparations of Jehoiada which eventuated in the safe proclaiming of Joash king (2 Chronicles 231-11) then the tragic demonstration and tragic end of Athaliah (2 Chronicles 2312-15) and lastly the beneficent action of Jehoiada over people and king to the complete restoration of the worship and temple-services of the true God (2 Chronicles 2316-21) The chapter is very closely paralleled by 2 Kings 114-21 while the characteristic and to be expected differences on the part of our text are very conspicuous These will be noted as they occur While each compiler so definitely keeps on that side of the line which answers the main purpose of his history in the abundant material common to both and to which both resorted all harmonizes still with the supposed objects of the two works respectively

2 Chronicles 231

Jehoiada strengthened himself (see our note 2 Chronicles 121 2 Chronicles 137)

He nerved himself with courage and that courage which results from conviction of duty and of ripe time to achieve it The captains of hundreds (or centurions of the royal guards) are not mentioned in the parallel by name but the significant mention there (2 Kings 115-7) of five detachments (three third parts plus two parts of another body) tally with the number five who are here mentioned by name The five detachments probably summed up a force of nominally five hundred It is interesting to note how often high religious enterprises have been due to the trusting mutual co-operation of very few to begin with and them awakened and led by one Of no one of these five named here is anything known more to his honour than thismdashthat his name is here recorded It is said with the most perfect simplicity of even Hebrew language that he took them with him in covenant

2 They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites and the heads of Israelite families from all the towns When they came to Jerusalem

BARES Jehoiada was unwilling to trust the success of the revolution wholly and entirely to the royal body-guard Accordingly the captains collected from the cities of Judah a strong body of Levites and the chief of the fathers of Israel (i e ldquoJudahrdquo see 2Ch_2034 note) who were brought up to Jerusalem

JAMISO chief of all the fathers of Israelmdash This name is frequently used in Chronicles for Judah and Benjamin now all that remained of Israel Having cautiously entrusted the secret of the young princersquos preservation to all the leading men in the kingdom he enlisted their interest in the royal cause and got their pledge to support it by a secret oath of fidelity

they came to Jerusalemmdash The time chosen for the grand discovery was probably one of the annual festivals when there was a general concourse of the nation at the capital

BESO 2 Chronicles 232 And gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah mdash Because he knew them to be well affected to the cause of God and the king to which they were bound by the two strongest ties conscience and interest and because he could collect them without any suspicion it being their duty to attend at Jerusalem at the solemn feasts the time of one which was probably chosen for this purpose And the chief of the fathers Israel mdash Judah is here called Israel as in

several other places They came to Jerusalem mdash To settle their resolutions with Jehoiada

ELLICOTT (2) And they went about in Judahmdash2 Chronicles 179 1 Samuel 716

The chief of the fathersmdashThe heads of the clans or chiefs of houses

This and the next verse are added by the chronicler In Kings the narrative passes at once to the charge of 2 Chronicles 234 ldquoThis is the thing that ye shall dordquo which is there addressed to the ldquocaptains of the hundredsrdquo or centurions of the royal guard In fact the parallel text is nearly if not altogether silent as to the part played by the Levites in the Restoration and the chronicler appears to have supplemented that account with materials derived from other authorities and perhaps from Levitical traditions That he should have done so is only consistent with his general practice and the special purpose of his history At the same time allowing for certain characteristic additions interpretations and substitutions of phrase for phrase which will be specified in these otes the narrative of the chronicler absolutely coincides with that of Kings treating of the same events and rigidly observing the same limits as well as maintaining a general identity of language We conclude therefore that in this case as elsewhere the chronicler has used as the groundwork of his relation a historical text which contained sections substantially identical with the present narratives of Kings but accompanied by numerous details not found in those books

PULPIT o mention is made in the parallel of the Levites whom our writer is sure to signalize The fathers of Israel The sacredness of the phrase made it dear above the narrowness of the distinctive appellation Judah though the worthies all were gathered as justimplied out of Judah

3 the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the temple of God

Jehoiada said to them ldquoThe kingrsquos son shall reign as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David

BARES By ldquoall the congregationrdquo here is meant the persons referred to in 2Ch_232

ELLICOTT (3) And all the congregationmdashOf the assembled Levites and family chiefs as well as the royal guard

Made a covenant with the kingmdashComp 2 Kings 114 ldquoAnd he made a covenant for themrdquo ie imposed a compact on them made them swear fidelity to the young prince (Comp also 2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53)

The kingrsquos son shall reignmdashOr Behold the kingrsquos son Let him be king

As the Lord hath saidmdashSpake concerning the sons of David in the oracle delivered by the prophet athan (2 Samuel 74-17)

PARKER For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly ( 2 Chronicles 223)

WHAT heart can read these words without being sad with ineffable woe Ahaziah reigned wickedly forty and two years old was he when he began to reign he had a brief reign in Jerusalem only one year long he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab why for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly There must be a mistranslation All nature is offended by this tremendous affront Can we not find some other word for mother Any other word will do better even father would not be so objectionable The one word that cannot be tolerated here is the word that is found namely mother We might close the Bible here and say the book that contains this statement was never inspired But we cannot do so Then the word counsellor is so full of plan premeditation arrangement the mother was a schoolmistress with one pupil and she suggested invented culminated ends whispered threw out hints advised bad policies told him when he was halting because the course was evil to go on apoleon said They that rock the cradle rule the world To have a cradle rocked by such a mother as Athaliah surely were enough to be foredoomed to endless misery How sweetly the narrative would have read had it proceeded on the lines of naturemdashfor his mother was his counsellor to do bravely Surely the word wickedly is a misprint traceable to some careless copyist His mother was his counsellor to do wisely patiently hopefullymdashthese would have been womanly words words most motherly the very words with which we build home and church and heaven But the word is wickedly and we must regard it in its literal significance What are mothers doing now They could be Gods foremost ministers o man can pray like a woman no man has the art of eloquence as a woman has it no one can come into life so silently quietly blessingly

as womanmdashmother sister If women would preach surely the world would listen They ought to preach they know the secret of love they have the answer to the Cross they can solve in some degree the enigma of sacrifice This is the very reason of the horribleness of the text If woman had been otherwise then the word wickedly would not have read with such a sense of irony and moral collision as it does in this instance It is because woman can be so heavenly that she can be so low and wicked and bad it is because she can be so like a saviour that she can be such an engine and agent of ruin

PULPIT All the congregation ie all who have been mentioned in 2 Chronicles 231 and 2 Chronicles 232 for so the parallel makes plain Made a covenant This was the second wider and more embracing covenant This covenant is between all the gathered representatives and the young king Jehoiada no doubt putting all things into shape And he said unto them Behold the kings son shall reign The he is Jehoiada as of course In view of the last clause of 2 Chronicles 234mdashin the parallel Jehoiada showed them the kings son mdashthe likelier rendering of our text here is Behold the kings son he shall reign as etc As the Lord hath said of the sons of David (see 2 Chronicles 616 2 Chronicles 718 2 Samuel 712 1 Kings 24 1 Kings 95) The hereditary nature of the monarchy (2 Samuel 71-29) pervaded ever by the spirit of the covenant is evidently glanced at It is probable that the existence of Joash was news to those to whom Jehoiada as the parallel has it showed hellip the kings son so that double significance lies in the word showed

4 ow this is what you are to do A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors

BARES The writer of Chronicles relates the orders that were given to the Levites the author of Kings those received by the royal body-guard (2Ki_115 note)

JAMISO 4-9 This is the thing that ye shall domdash The arrangements made for defense are here described The people were divided into three bodies one attended as guards to the king while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates and the captains and military officers who entered the temple unarmed to lull suspicion were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armory where David had deposited his

trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion

KampD 4-6 The case is similar with the contradictions in the account of the carrying out of the arrangements agreed upon In Bertheaus view this is the state of the case According to 2Ki_115-8 the one part of the body-guard which on Sabbath mounted guard in the royal palace were to divide themselves into three bands one third was to keep the guard of the royal house which was certainly in the neighbourhood of the main entrance the second third was to stand at the gate Sur probably a side-gate of the palace the third was to stand behind the door of the runners The other part of the body-guard on the other hand - all those who were relieved on the Sabbath - were to occupy the temple so as to defend the young king But according to the representation of the Chronicle (1) the priests and the Levites were to divide themselves into three parts the first third those of the priests and Levites who entered upon their duties on the Sabbath were to be watchers of the thresholds (cf on 1Ch_919) ie were to mount guard in the temple as usual the second third was to be in the house of the king (ie where the first third was to keep watch according to 2 Kings) the third was to be at the gate Jesod Then (2) the whole people were to stand in the courts of the temple and according to 2Ch_236 were to observe the ordinance of Jahve (2Ch_1311) by which they were forbidden to enter the temple From this Bertheau then concludes ldquoThe guarding of the house of Jahve for the protection of the king (2Ki_117) has here become

a יהוה But in opposition to this we have to remark that in 2Ki_115-8 rdquoמשמרת is it not

said that the royal body-guard was to be posted as guards in the royal palace and in the temple that is only a conclusion from the fact that Jehoiada conferred on the matter

with the האות of the executioners and runners ie of the royal satellites and שרי

instructed these centurions that those entering upon the service on Sabbath were to keep watch in three divisions and those retiring from the service in two divisions in the following places which are then more accurately designated The one division of those entering upon the service were to stand according to 2 Kings by the gate Sur according to the Chronicle by the gate Jesod The second according to 2 Kings was to keep the guard of the kings house according to the Chronicle it was to be in or by the kings house The third was according to 2 Kings to be by (in) the gate behind the runners and to keep the guard of the house Massach according to the Chronicle they were to

serve as watchers of the thresholds If as is acknowledged by all the gate סור is identical

with the gate היסוד - although it can neither be ascertained whether the difference in

name has resulted merely from an orthographical error or rests upon a double designation of one gate nor yet can it be pointed out what the position of this gate which is nowhere else mentioned was - then the Chronicle and 2 Kings agree as to the

posts which were to occupy this door The position also of the third part הלך בית(Chron) will not be different from that of the third part to which was committed the guarding of the kings house (Kings) The place where this third part took up its position is not exactly pointed out in either narrative yet the statement ldquoto keep the watch of the house (temple) for warding offrdquo (Kings) agrees with the appointment ldquoto be guards of the thresholdsrdquo (Chron) since the guarding of the thresholds has no other aim than to prevent unauthorized persons from entering Now since the young king not merely according to the Chron but also according to 2Ki_114 - where we are told that Jehoiada showed the son of the king to the chief men whom he had summoned to the house of Jahve - was in the temple and only after his coronation and Athaliahs death

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

came at his call to Jerusalem (2Ch_232) and were there ready to receive his orders See what a command wisdom and virtue will give men The Levites and all Judah did as Jehoiada commanded (2Ch_238) and which is strange all that were entrusted with the secret kept their own counsel till it was executed Thus the words of the wise are heard in quiet Ecc_917 3 A man of great faith It was not only common equity (much less his wifes relation to the royal family) that put him upon this undertaking but a regard to the word of God and the divine entail of the crown (2Ch_233) The kings son shall reign must reign as the Lord hath said His eye to the promise and dependence upon that added a great deal of glory to this undertaking 4 A man of great religion This matter was to be done in the temple which might occasion some breach of rule and the necessity of the case might be thought to excuse it but he gave special order that none of the people should come into the house of the Lord but the priests and Levites only who were holy upon pain of death 2Ch_236 2Ch_237 Never let sacred things be profaned no not for the support of civil rights 5 A man of great resolution When he had undertaken this business he went through with it brought out the king crowned him and gave him the testimony 2Ch_2311 He ventured his head but it was in a good cause and therefore he went on boldly It is here said that his sons joined with him in anointing the young king One of them it is likely was that Zechariah whom Joash afterwards put to death for reproving him (2Ch_2420) which was so much the more ungrateful because he bore a willing part in anointing him

JAMISO 2Ch_231-11 Jehoiada makes Joash king

in the seventh year Jehoiada took the captains of hundreds etcmdash (See on 2Ki_114 see on 2Ki_1117) The five officers mentioned here had been probably of the royal guard and were known to be strongly disaffected to the government of Athaliah

KampD 1-3 Joash raised to the throne and Athaliah slain - In 2 Kings 114-20 we have another account of these events in which the matter is in several points more briefly narrated and apparently differently represented According to both narratives the thing was undertaken and carried out by the high priest Jehoiada but according to 2 Kings 11 the high priest would appear to have mainly availed himself of the co-operation of the royal body-guard in the execution of his plan while according to the Chronicle it is the Levites and the heads of the fathers-houses who are made use of Thereupon De Wette Movers Thenius and Bertheau consequently maintain that the author of the Chronicle proceeding on the view that the high priest the chief of so many priests and Levites would not have recourse to the assistance of the royal body-guard has altered the statements in the second book of Kings accordingly and wishes to represent the matter in a different way But this assertion can be made with an appearance of truth only on the presupposition already repeatedly shown to be erroneous that the author of the Chronicle has made the account in 2 Kings 11 the basis of his narrative and designedly altered it and can scarcely be upheld even by the incorrect interpretation of various words That 2 Kings 11 is not the source from which our account has been derived nor the basis on which it is founded is manifest from the very first verses of the chroniclers narrative where the names of the five princes over hundreds with whose co-operation Jehoiada elaborated his plan and carried it into execution are individually enumerated while in 2 Kings 11 where the preparations for the accomplishment of the

work are very briefly treated of they will be sought for in vain But if on the contrary the two accounts be recognised to be extracts confining themselves to the main points excerpted from a more detailed narrative of the event from different points of view the discrepancies may be at once reconciled Instead of the short statement 2Ki_114 that the high priest Jehoiada ordered the centurions of the royal body-guard to come to him

in the temple (חובאי) made a covenant with them caused them to swear and showed

them the kings son we read in the Chronicle (2Ch_231-3) that the high priest Jehoiada took five centurions whose names are stated with historical exactitude into covenant with him ie sent for them and made a covenant with them and that these men then went throughout Judah and summoned the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel to Jerusalem whereupon Jehoiada with the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God and Jehoiada said to the people ldquoThe kings son shall be king as Jahve hath said of the sons of Davidrdquo That this more expanded narrative can without difficulty be reconciled with the summary statement in 2Ki_114 is perfectly manifest By various devices however Berth tries to bring out some discrepancies In the first place in the words ldquoJehoiada

sent and brought the princes of hundredsrdquo (2Ki_114) he presses the שלח which is not

found in the Chronicle translates it by ldquohe sent outrdquo and interprets it with 2Ch_232 of

the Chronicle in the second he takes הלל־ה in 2Ch_233 of the Chronicle to mean ldquothe

whole congregationrdquo whereas it denotes only the assembly of the men named in 2Ch_231 and 2Ch_232 and thirdly he opposes the expression ldquothey made a covenant with the kingrdquo (2Ch_233 Chron) to the statement (2Ki_112) that Jehoiada made a covenant to the princes by making this latter statement mean that Jehoiada made a covenant with the princes but not with the king as if this covenant concerning the coronation of Joash as king might not be called by a shorter mode of expression a covenant with the king especially when the declaration ldquothe son of the king shall reignrdquo follows immediately

BESO 2 Chronicles 231 And took the captains of hundreds mdash ot all but those here following in whom he put most trust But the contents of this chapter in general having occurred 2 Kings 11 where they are explained little need be said on them here

COFFMA This whole chapter along with the last three verses of the previous chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 11 In my commentary on 2Kings I have written 10 pages of comments about these events and I do not wish to add anything else here See pp 139-148 of my commentary in that volume There are a few unimportant variations but the narratives are essentially identical

ELLICOTT THE FALL OF ATHALIAH AD SUCCESSIO OF JOASH (Comp 2 Kings 114-20)

(1) Jehoiada strengthened himselfmdashShowed himself strong or courageous behaved boldly (1 Samuel 49) The chronicler has substituted a favourite expression (hithchazzaq) for the term used in Kings ldquoJehoiada sentrdquo

The captains of hundredsmdashTheir names added here are not given in 2 Kings 114 On the other hand Kings reads ldquothe captains of the hundreds of the Carians (or body-guard) and the Runners (or couriers ie royal messengers) ldquomdashterms which were probably obscure to the chronicler

Azariah and AzariahmdashHebrsquoAzaryacirch and lsquoAzaryacirchucirc (Comp 2 Chronicles 212) These names are introduced in the chronicler s well-known manner (by the prefix le marking the object of the verb) His style is very visible in the additions to the narrative as compared with Kings

GUZIK 1-7 2 CHROICLES 23 - JEHOIADA AD THE CROWIG OF JOASH

A The plan is put into practice

1 (2 Chronicles 231-7) Jehoiada and his plan to restore Joash to the throne of Judah

In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds Azariah the son of Jeroham Ishmael the son of Jehohanan Azariah the son of Obed Maaseiah the son of Adaiah and Elishaphat the son of Zichri And they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the chief fathers of Israel and they came to Jerusalem Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God And he said to them ldquoBehold the kingrsquos son shall reign as the LORD has said of the sons of David This is what you shall do One-third of you entering on the Sabbath of the priests and the Levites shall be keeping watch over the doors one-third shall be at the kingrsquos house and one-third at the Gate of the Foundation All the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD But let no one come into the house of the LORD except the priests and those of the Levites who serve They may go in for they are holy but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD And the Levites shall surround the king on all sides every man with his weapons in his hand and whoever comes into the house let him be put to death You are to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes outrdquo

a Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the captains Jehoiada was a godly man who was concerned with restoring the throne of David to the line of David and taking it away from this daughter of Ahab and Jezebel He was also the husband of Jehoshabeath the woman who hid the young boy Joash and protected him from the Athaliahrsquos massacre

i ldquoThe easiest thing for Jehoiada would have been to shut himself up in the temple and leave things to take their course The noblest thing was to come forth and boldly confront the rampant evil of his timerdquo (Meyer)

ii ldquoThe world is full of Athaliahs and it is not befitting that the Jehoiadas should remain at their holy rites and services if there is a paramount need for action in the worldrsquos battlefield in the strife against wrongrdquo (Meyer)

b Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God From the place where the oath was made and the context of the oath we learn that the worship of the true God was not dead in Judah These captains could respond to their responsibility before the LORD

c Behold the kingrsquos son shall reign This was a dramatic moment For six years everyone believed there were no more surviving heirs of Davidrsquos royal line and there was no legitimate ruler to displace the wicked Athaliah The secret had to be secure because the kingrsquos son would be immediately killed if his existence were revealed The captains must have been shocked by the sight of this six-year old heir to the throne

i One reason Athaliah was able to reign for six years was that no one knew any alternative Many people live under the reign of Satan because they donrsquot really know there is a legitimate king ready to take reign in their life

d This is what you shall do Jehoiada had a plan to depose the wicked Queen Athaliah and to replace her with the boy king These leaders needed to follow his plan carefully and to do it on the Sabbath Jehoiada chose the Sabbath for the day of the coup because that was the day when the guards changed their shifts and they could assemble two groups of guards at the temple at the same time without attracting attention

i ldquoIt was a weighty work he went about and therefore he took the wisest course the fittest time on the Sabbath when the congregation met and in the temple wither Athaliah and her courtiers seldom camerdquo (Trapp)

PULPIT This chapter records first those careful preparations of Jehoiada which eventuated in the safe proclaiming of Joash king (2 Chronicles 231-11) then the tragic demonstration and tragic end of Athaliah (2 Chronicles 2312-15) and lastly the beneficent action of Jehoiada over people and king to the complete restoration of the worship and temple-services of the true God (2 Chronicles 2316-21) The chapter is very closely paralleled by 2 Kings 114-21 while the characteristic and to be expected differences on the part of our text are very conspicuous These will be noted as they occur While each compiler so definitely keeps on that side of the line which answers the main purpose of his history in the abundant material common to both and to which both resorted all harmonizes still with the supposed objects of the two works respectively

2 Chronicles 231

Jehoiada strengthened himself (see our note 2 Chronicles 121 2 Chronicles 137)

He nerved himself with courage and that courage which results from conviction of duty and of ripe time to achieve it The captains of hundreds (or centurions of the royal guards) are not mentioned in the parallel by name but the significant mention there (2 Kings 115-7) of five detachments (three third parts plus two parts of another body) tally with the number five who are here mentioned by name The five detachments probably summed up a force of nominally five hundred It is interesting to note how often high religious enterprises have been due to the trusting mutual co-operation of very few to begin with and them awakened and led by one Of no one of these five named here is anything known more to his honour than thismdashthat his name is here recorded It is said with the most perfect simplicity of even Hebrew language that he took them with him in covenant

2 They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites and the heads of Israelite families from all the towns When they came to Jerusalem

BARES Jehoiada was unwilling to trust the success of the revolution wholly and entirely to the royal body-guard Accordingly the captains collected from the cities of Judah a strong body of Levites and the chief of the fathers of Israel (i e ldquoJudahrdquo see 2Ch_2034 note) who were brought up to Jerusalem

JAMISO chief of all the fathers of Israelmdash This name is frequently used in Chronicles for Judah and Benjamin now all that remained of Israel Having cautiously entrusted the secret of the young princersquos preservation to all the leading men in the kingdom he enlisted their interest in the royal cause and got their pledge to support it by a secret oath of fidelity

they came to Jerusalemmdash The time chosen for the grand discovery was probably one of the annual festivals when there was a general concourse of the nation at the capital

BESO 2 Chronicles 232 And gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah mdash Because he knew them to be well affected to the cause of God and the king to which they were bound by the two strongest ties conscience and interest and because he could collect them without any suspicion it being their duty to attend at Jerusalem at the solemn feasts the time of one which was probably chosen for this purpose And the chief of the fathers Israel mdash Judah is here called Israel as in

several other places They came to Jerusalem mdash To settle their resolutions with Jehoiada

ELLICOTT (2) And they went about in Judahmdash2 Chronicles 179 1 Samuel 716

The chief of the fathersmdashThe heads of the clans or chiefs of houses

This and the next verse are added by the chronicler In Kings the narrative passes at once to the charge of 2 Chronicles 234 ldquoThis is the thing that ye shall dordquo which is there addressed to the ldquocaptains of the hundredsrdquo or centurions of the royal guard In fact the parallel text is nearly if not altogether silent as to the part played by the Levites in the Restoration and the chronicler appears to have supplemented that account with materials derived from other authorities and perhaps from Levitical traditions That he should have done so is only consistent with his general practice and the special purpose of his history At the same time allowing for certain characteristic additions interpretations and substitutions of phrase for phrase which will be specified in these otes the narrative of the chronicler absolutely coincides with that of Kings treating of the same events and rigidly observing the same limits as well as maintaining a general identity of language We conclude therefore that in this case as elsewhere the chronicler has used as the groundwork of his relation a historical text which contained sections substantially identical with the present narratives of Kings but accompanied by numerous details not found in those books

PULPIT o mention is made in the parallel of the Levites whom our writer is sure to signalize The fathers of Israel The sacredness of the phrase made it dear above the narrowness of the distinctive appellation Judah though the worthies all were gathered as justimplied out of Judah

3 the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the temple of God

Jehoiada said to them ldquoThe kingrsquos son shall reign as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David

BARES By ldquoall the congregationrdquo here is meant the persons referred to in 2Ch_232

ELLICOTT (3) And all the congregationmdashOf the assembled Levites and family chiefs as well as the royal guard

Made a covenant with the kingmdashComp 2 Kings 114 ldquoAnd he made a covenant for themrdquo ie imposed a compact on them made them swear fidelity to the young prince (Comp also 2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53)

The kingrsquos son shall reignmdashOr Behold the kingrsquos son Let him be king

As the Lord hath saidmdashSpake concerning the sons of David in the oracle delivered by the prophet athan (2 Samuel 74-17)

PARKER For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly ( 2 Chronicles 223)

WHAT heart can read these words without being sad with ineffable woe Ahaziah reigned wickedly forty and two years old was he when he began to reign he had a brief reign in Jerusalem only one year long he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab why for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly There must be a mistranslation All nature is offended by this tremendous affront Can we not find some other word for mother Any other word will do better even father would not be so objectionable The one word that cannot be tolerated here is the word that is found namely mother We might close the Bible here and say the book that contains this statement was never inspired But we cannot do so Then the word counsellor is so full of plan premeditation arrangement the mother was a schoolmistress with one pupil and she suggested invented culminated ends whispered threw out hints advised bad policies told him when he was halting because the course was evil to go on apoleon said They that rock the cradle rule the world To have a cradle rocked by such a mother as Athaliah surely were enough to be foredoomed to endless misery How sweetly the narrative would have read had it proceeded on the lines of naturemdashfor his mother was his counsellor to do bravely Surely the word wickedly is a misprint traceable to some careless copyist His mother was his counsellor to do wisely patiently hopefullymdashthese would have been womanly words words most motherly the very words with which we build home and church and heaven But the word is wickedly and we must regard it in its literal significance What are mothers doing now They could be Gods foremost ministers o man can pray like a woman no man has the art of eloquence as a woman has it no one can come into life so silently quietly blessingly

as womanmdashmother sister If women would preach surely the world would listen They ought to preach they know the secret of love they have the answer to the Cross they can solve in some degree the enigma of sacrifice This is the very reason of the horribleness of the text If woman had been otherwise then the word wickedly would not have read with such a sense of irony and moral collision as it does in this instance It is because woman can be so heavenly that she can be so low and wicked and bad it is because she can be so like a saviour that she can be such an engine and agent of ruin

PULPIT All the congregation ie all who have been mentioned in 2 Chronicles 231 and 2 Chronicles 232 for so the parallel makes plain Made a covenant This was the second wider and more embracing covenant This covenant is between all the gathered representatives and the young king Jehoiada no doubt putting all things into shape And he said unto them Behold the kings son shall reign The he is Jehoiada as of course In view of the last clause of 2 Chronicles 234mdashin the parallel Jehoiada showed them the kings son mdashthe likelier rendering of our text here is Behold the kings son he shall reign as etc As the Lord hath said of the sons of David (see 2 Chronicles 616 2 Chronicles 718 2 Samuel 712 1 Kings 24 1 Kings 95) The hereditary nature of the monarchy (2 Samuel 71-29) pervaded ever by the spirit of the covenant is evidently glanced at It is probable that the existence of Joash was news to those to whom Jehoiada as the parallel has it showed hellip the kings son so that double significance lies in the word showed

4 ow this is what you are to do A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors

BARES The writer of Chronicles relates the orders that were given to the Levites the author of Kings those received by the royal body-guard (2Ki_115 note)

JAMISO 4-9 This is the thing that ye shall domdash The arrangements made for defense are here described The people were divided into three bodies one attended as guards to the king while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates and the captains and military officers who entered the temple unarmed to lull suspicion were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armory where David had deposited his

trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion

KampD 4-6 The case is similar with the contradictions in the account of the carrying out of the arrangements agreed upon In Bertheaus view this is the state of the case According to 2Ki_115-8 the one part of the body-guard which on Sabbath mounted guard in the royal palace were to divide themselves into three bands one third was to keep the guard of the royal house which was certainly in the neighbourhood of the main entrance the second third was to stand at the gate Sur probably a side-gate of the palace the third was to stand behind the door of the runners The other part of the body-guard on the other hand - all those who were relieved on the Sabbath - were to occupy the temple so as to defend the young king But according to the representation of the Chronicle (1) the priests and the Levites were to divide themselves into three parts the first third those of the priests and Levites who entered upon their duties on the Sabbath were to be watchers of the thresholds (cf on 1Ch_919) ie were to mount guard in the temple as usual the second third was to be in the house of the king (ie where the first third was to keep watch according to 2 Kings) the third was to be at the gate Jesod Then (2) the whole people were to stand in the courts of the temple and according to 2Ch_236 were to observe the ordinance of Jahve (2Ch_1311) by which they were forbidden to enter the temple From this Bertheau then concludes ldquoThe guarding of the house of Jahve for the protection of the king (2Ki_117) has here become

a יהוה But in opposition to this we have to remark that in 2Ki_115-8 rdquoמשמרת is it not

said that the royal body-guard was to be posted as guards in the royal palace and in the temple that is only a conclusion from the fact that Jehoiada conferred on the matter

with the האות of the executioners and runners ie of the royal satellites and שרי

instructed these centurions that those entering upon the service on Sabbath were to keep watch in three divisions and those retiring from the service in two divisions in the following places which are then more accurately designated The one division of those entering upon the service were to stand according to 2 Kings by the gate Sur according to the Chronicle by the gate Jesod The second according to 2 Kings was to keep the guard of the kings house according to the Chronicle it was to be in or by the kings house The third was according to 2 Kings to be by (in) the gate behind the runners and to keep the guard of the house Massach according to the Chronicle they were to

serve as watchers of the thresholds If as is acknowledged by all the gate סור is identical

with the gate היסוד - although it can neither be ascertained whether the difference in

name has resulted merely from an orthographical error or rests upon a double designation of one gate nor yet can it be pointed out what the position of this gate which is nowhere else mentioned was - then the Chronicle and 2 Kings agree as to the

posts which were to occupy this door The position also of the third part הלך בית(Chron) will not be different from that of the third part to which was committed the guarding of the kings house (Kings) The place where this third part took up its position is not exactly pointed out in either narrative yet the statement ldquoto keep the watch of the house (temple) for warding offrdquo (Kings) agrees with the appointment ldquoto be guards of the thresholdsrdquo (Chron) since the guarding of the thresholds has no other aim than to prevent unauthorized persons from entering Now since the young king not merely according to the Chron but also according to 2Ki_114 - where we are told that Jehoiada showed the son of the king to the chief men whom he had summoned to the house of Jahve - was in the temple and only after his coronation and Athaliahs death

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

work are very briefly treated of they will be sought for in vain But if on the contrary the two accounts be recognised to be extracts confining themselves to the main points excerpted from a more detailed narrative of the event from different points of view the discrepancies may be at once reconciled Instead of the short statement 2Ki_114 that the high priest Jehoiada ordered the centurions of the royal body-guard to come to him

in the temple (חובאי) made a covenant with them caused them to swear and showed

them the kings son we read in the Chronicle (2Ch_231-3) that the high priest Jehoiada took five centurions whose names are stated with historical exactitude into covenant with him ie sent for them and made a covenant with them and that these men then went throughout Judah and summoned the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel to Jerusalem whereupon Jehoiada with the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God and Jehoiada said to the people ldquoThe kings son shall be king as Jahve hath said of the sons of Davidrdquo That this more expanded narrative can without difficulty be reconciled with the summary statement in 2Ki_114 is perfectly manifest By various devices however Berth tries to bring out some discrepancies In the first place in the words ldquoJehoiada

sent and brought the princes of hundredsrdquo (2Ki_114) he presses the שלח which is not

found in the Chronicle translates it by ldquohe sent outrdquo and interprets it with 2Ch_232 of

the Chronicle in the second he takes הלל־ה in 2Ch_233 of the Chronicle to mean ldquothe

whole congregationrdquo whereas it denotes only the assembly of the men named in 2Ch_231 and 2Ch_232 and thirdly he opposes the expression ldquothey made a covenant with the kingrdquo (2Ch_233 Chron) to the statement (2Ki_112) that Jehoiada made a covenant to the princes by making this latter statement mean that Jehoiada made a covenant with the princes but not with the king as if this covenant concerning the coronation of Joash as king might not be called by a shorter mode of expression a covenant with the king especially when the declaration ldquothe son of the king shall reignrdquo follows immediately

BESO 2 Chronicles 231 And took the captains of hundreds mdash ot all but those here following in whom he put most trust But the contents of this chapter in general having occurred 2 Kings 11 where they are explained little need be said on them here

COFFMA This whole chapter along with the last three verses of the previous chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 11 In my commentary on 2Kings I have written 10 pages of comments about these events and I do not wish to add anything else here See pp 139-148 of my commentary in that volume There are a few unimportant variations but the narratives are essentially identical

ELLICOTT THE FALL OF ATHALIAH AD SUCCESSIO OF JOASH (Comp 2 Kings 114-20)

(1) Jehoiada strengthened himselfmdashShowed himself strong or courageous behaved boldly (1 Samuel 49) The chronicler has substituted a favourite expression (hithchazzaq) for the term used in Kings ldquoJehoiada sentrdquo

The captains of hundredsmdashTheir names added here are not given in 2 Kings 114 On the other hand Kings reads ldquothe captains of the hundreds of the Carians (or body-guard) and the Runners (or couriers ie royal messengers) ldquomdashterms which were probably obscure to the chronicler

Azariah and AzariahmdashHebrsquoAzaryacirch and lsquoAzaryacirchucirc (Comp 2 Chronicles 212) These names are introduced in the chronicler s well-known manner (by the prefix le marking the object of the verb) His style is very visible in the additions to the narrative as compared with Kings

GUZIK 1-7 2 CHROICLES 23 - JEHOIADA AD THE CROWIG OF JOASH

A The plan is put into practice

1 (2 Chronicles 231-7) Jehoiada and his plan to restore Joash to the throne of Judah

In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds Azariah the son of Jeroham Ishmael the son of Jehohanan Azariah the son of Obed Maaseiah the son of Adaiah and Elishaphat the son of Zichri And they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the chief fathers of Israel and they came to Jerusalem Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God And he said to them ldquoBehold the kingrsquos son shall reign as the LORD has said of the sons of David This is what you shall do One-third of you entering on the Sabbath of the priests and the Levites shall be keeping watch over the doors one-third shall be at the kingrsquos house and one-third at the Gate of the Foundation All the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD But let no one come into the house of the LORD except the priests and those of the Levites who serve They may go in for they are holy but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD And the Levites shall surround the king on all sides every man with his weapons in his hand and whoever comes into the house let him be put to death You are to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes outrdquo

a Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the captains Jehoiada was a godly man who was concerned with restoring the throne of David to the line of David and taking it away from this daughter of Ahab and Jezebel He was also the husband of Jehoshabeath the woman who hid the young boy Joash and protected him from the Athaliahrsquos massacre

i ldquoThe easiest thing for Jehoiada would have been to shut himself up in the temple and leave things to take their course The noblest thing was to come forth and boldly confront the rampant evil of his timerdquo (Meyer)

ii ldquoThe world is full of Athaliahs and it is not befitting that the Jehoiadas should remain at their holy rites and services if there is a paramount need for action in the worldrsquos battlefield in the strife against wrongrdquo (Meyer)

b Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God From the place where the oath was made and the context of the oath we learn that the worship of the true God was not dead in Judah These captains could respond to their responsibility before the LORD

c Behold the kingrsquos son shall reign This was a dramatic moment For six years everyone believed there were no more surviving heirs of Davidrsquos royal line and there was no legitimate ruler to displace the wicked Athaliah The secret had to be secure because the kingrsquos son would be immediately killed if his existence were revealed The captains must have been shocked by the sight of this six-year old heir to the throne

i One reason Athaliah was able to reign for six years was that no one knew any alternative Many people live under the reign of Satan because they donrsquot really know there is a legitimate king ready to take reign in their life

d This is what you shall do Jehoiada had a plan to depose the wicked Queen Athaliah and to replace her with the boy king These leaders needed to follow his plan carefully and to do it on the Sabbath Jehoiada chose the Sabbath for the day of the coup because that was the day when the guards changed their shifts and they could assemble two groups of guards at the temple at the same time without attracting attention

i ldquoIt was a weighty work he went about and therefore he took the wisest course the fittest time on the Sabbath when the congregation met and in the temple wither Athaliah and her courtiers seldom camerdquo (Trapp)

PULPIT This chapter records first those careful preparations of Jehoiada which eventuated in the safe proclaiming of Joash king (2 Chronicles 231-11) then the tragic demonstration and tragic end of Athaliah (2 Chronicles 2312-15) and lastly the beneficent action of Jehoiada over people and king to the complete restoration of the worship and temple-services of the true God (2 Chronicles 2316-21) The chapter is very closely paralleled by 2 Kings 114-21 while the characteristic and to be expected differences on the part of our text are very conspicuous These will be noted as they occur While each compiler so definitely keeps on that side of the line which answers the main purpose of his history in the abundant material common to both and to which both resorted all harmonizes still with the supposed objects of the two works respectively

2 Chronicles 231

Jehoiada strengthened himself (see our note 2 Chronicles 121 2 Chronicles 137)

He nerved himself with courage and that courage which results from conviction of duty and of ripe time to achieve it The captains of hundreds (or centurions of the royal guards) are not mentioned in the parallel by name but the significant mention there (2 Kings 115-7) of five detachments (three third parts plus two parts of another body) tally with the number five who are here mentioned by name The five detachments probably summed up a force of nominally five hundred It is interesting to note how often high religious enterprises have been due to the trusting mutual co-operation of very few to begin with and them awakened and led by one Of no one of these five named here is anything known more to his honour than thismdashthat his name is here recorded It is said with the most perfect simplicity of even Hebrew language that he took them with him in covenant

2 They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites and the heads of Israelite families from all the towns When they came to Jerusalem

BARES Jehoiada was unwilling to trust the success of the revolution wholly and entirely to the royal body-guard Accordingly the captains collected from the cities of Judah a strong body of Levites and the chief of the fathers of Israel (i e ldquoJudahrdquo see 2Ch_2034 note) who were brought up to Jerusalem

JAMISO chief of all the fathers of Israelmdash This name is frequently used in Chronicles for Judah and Benjamin now all that remained of Israel Having cautiously entrusted the secret of the young princersquos preservation to all the leading men in the kingdom he enlisted their interest in the royal cause and got their pledge to support it by a secret oath of fidelity

they came to Jerusalemmdash The time chosen for the grand discovery was probably one of the annual festivals when there was a general concourse of the nation at the capital

BESO 2 Chronicles 232 And gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah mdash Because he knew them to be well affected to the cause of God and the king to which they were bound by the two strongest ties conscience and interest and because he could collect them without any suspicion it being their duty to attend at Jerusalem at the solemn feasts the time of one which was probably chosen for this purpose And the chief of the fathers Israel mdash Judah is here called Israel as in

several other places They came to Jerusalem mdash To settle their resolutions with Jehoiada

ELLICOTT (2) And they went about in Judahmdash2 Chronicles 179 1 Samuel 716

The chief of the fathersmdashThe heads of the clans or chiefs of houses

This and the next verse are added by the chronicler In Kings the narrative passes at once to the charge of 2 Chronicles 234 ldquoThis is the thing that ye shall dordquo which is there addressed to the ldquocaptains of the hundredsrdquo or centurions of the royal guard In fact the parallel text is nearly if not altogether silent as to the part played by the Levites in the Restoration and the chronicler appears to have supplemented that account with materials derived from other authorities and perhaps from Levitical traditions That he should have done so is only consistent with his general practice and the special purpose of his history At the same time allowing for certain characteristic additions interpretations and substitutions of phrase for phrase which will be specified in these otes the narrative of the chronicler absolutely coincides with that of Kings treating of the same events and rigidly observing the same limits as well as maintaining a general identity of language We conclude therefore that in this case as elsewhere the chronicler has used as the groundwork of his relation a historical text which contained sections substantially identical with the present narratives of Kings but accompanied by numerous details not found in those books

PULPIT o mention is made in the parallel of the Levites whom our writer is sure to signalize The fathers of Israel The sacredness of the phrase made it dear above the narrowness of the distinctive appellation Judah though the worthies all were gathered as justimplied out of Judah

3 the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the temple of God

Jehoiada said to them ldquoThe kingrsquos son shall reign as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David

BARES By ldquoall the congregationrdquo here is meant the persons referred to in 2Ch_232

ELLICOTT (3) And all the congregationmdashOf the assembled Levites and family chiefs as well as the royal guard

Made a covenant with the kingmdashComp 2 Kings 114 ldquoAnd he made a covenant for themrdquo ie imposed a compact on them made them swear fidelity to the young prince (Comp also 2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53)

The kingrsquos son shall reignmdashOr Behold the kingrsquos son Let him be king

As the Lord hath saidmdashSpake concerning the sons of David in the oracle delivered by the prophet athan (2 Samuel 74-17)

PARKER For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly ( 2 Chronicles 223)

WHAT heart can read these words without being sad with ineffable woe Ahaziah reigned wickedly forty and two years old was he when he began to reign he had a brief reign in Jerusalem only one year long he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab why for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly There must be a mistranslation All nature is offended by this tremendous affront Can we not find some other word for mother Any other word will do better even father would not be so objectionable The one word that cannot be tolerated here is the word that is found namely mother We might close the Bible here and say the book that contains this statement was never inspired But we cannot do so Then the word counsellor is so full of plan premeditation arrangement the mother was a schoolmistress with one pupil and she suggested invented culminated ends whispered threw out hints advised bad policies told him when he was halting because the course was evil to go on apoleon said They that rock the cradle rule the world To have a cradle rocked by such a mother as Athaliah surely were enough to be foredoomed to endless misery How sweetly the narrative would have read had it proceeded on the lines of naturemdashfor his mother was his counsellor to do bravely Surely the word wickedly is a misprint traceable to some careless copyist His mother was his counsellor to do wisely patiently hopefullymdashthese would have been womanly words words most motherly the very words with which we build home and church and heaven But the word is wickedly and we must regard it in its literal significance What are mothers doing now They could be Gods foremost ministers o man can pray like a woman no man has the art of eloquence as a woman has it no one can come into life so silently quietly blessingly

as womanmdashmother sister If women would preach surely the world would listen They ought to preach they know the secret of love they have the answer to the Cross they can solve in some degree the enigma of sacrifice This is the very reason of the horribleness of the text If woman had been otherwise then the word wickedly would not have read with such a sense of irony and moral collision as it does in this instance It is because woman can be so heavenly that she can be so low and wicked and bad it is because she can be so like a saviour that she can be such an engine and agent of ruin

PULPIT All the congregation ie all who have been mentioned in 2 Chronicles 231 and 2 Chronicles 232 for so the parallel makes plain Made a covenant This was the second wider and more embracing covenant This covenant is between all the gathered representatives and the young king Jehoiada no doubt putting all things into shape And he said unto them Behold the kings son shall reign The he is Jehoiada as of course In view of the last clause of 2 Chronicles 234mdashin the parallel Jehoiada showed them the kings son mdashthe likelier rendering of our text here is Behold the kings son he shall reign as etc As the Lord hath said of the sons of David (see 2 Chronicles 616 2 Chronicles 718 2 Samuel 712 1 Kings 24 1 Kings 95) The hereditary nature of the monarchy (2 Samuel 71-29) pervaded ever by the spirit of the covenant is evidently glanced at It is probable that the existence of Joash was news to those to whom Jehoiada as the parallel has it showed hellip the kings son so that double significance lies in the word showed

4 ow this is what you are to do A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors

BARES The writer of Chronicles relates the orders that were given to the Levites the author of Kings those received by the royal body-guard (2Ki_115 note)

JAMISO 4-9 This is the thing that ye shall domdash The arrangements made for defense are here described The people were divided into three bodies one attended as guards to the king while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates and the captains and military officers who entered the temple unarmed to lull suspicion were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armory where David had deposited his

trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion

KampD 4-6 The case is similar with the contradictions in the account of the carrying out of the arrangements agreed upon In Bertheaus view this is the state of the case According to 2Ki_115-8 the one part of the body-guard which on Sabbath mounted guard in the royal palace were to divide themselves into three bands one third was to keep the guard of the royal house which was certainly in the neighbourhood of the main entrance the second third was to stand at the gate Sur probably a side-gate of the palace the third was to stand behind the door of the runners The other part of the body-guard on the other hand - all those who were relieved on the Sabbath - were to occupy the temple so as to defend the young king But according to the representation of the Chronicle (1) the priests and the Levites were to divide themselves into three parts the first third those of the priests and Levites who entered upon their duties on the Sabbath were to be watchers of the thresholds (cf on 1Ch_919) ie were to mount guard in the temple as usual the second third was to be in the house of the king (ie where the first third was to keep watch according to 2 Kings) the third was to be at the gate Jesod Then (2) the whole people were to stand in the courts of the temple and according to 2Ch_236 were to observe the ordinance of Jahve (2Ch_1311) by which they were forbidden to enter the temple From this Bertheau then concludes ldquoThe guarding of the house of Jahve for the protection of the king (2Ki_117) has here become

a יהוה But in opposition to this we have to remark that in 2Ki_115-8 rdquoמשמרת is it not

said that the royal body-guard was to be posted as guards in the royal palace and in the temple that is only a conclusion from the fact that Jehoiada conferred on the matter

with the האות of the executioners and runners ie of the royal satellites and שרי

instructed these centurions that those entering upon the service on Sabbath were to keep watch in three divisions and those retiring from the service in two divisions in the following places which are then more accurately designated The one division of those entering upon the service were to stand according to 2 Kings by the gate Sur according to the Chronicle by the gate Jesod The second according to 2 Kings was to keep the guard of the kings house according to the Chronicle it was to be in or by the kings house The third was according to 2 Kings to be by (in) the gate behind the runners and to keep the guard of the house Massach according to the Chronicle they were to

serve as watchers of the thresholds If as is acknowledged by all the gate סור is identical

with the gate היסוד - although it can neither be ascertained whether the difference in

name has resulted merely from an orthographical error or rests upon a double designation of one gate nor yet can it be pointed out what the position of this gate which is nowhere else mentioned was - then the Chronicle and 2 Kings agree as to the

posts which were to occupy this door The position also of the third part הלך בית(Chron) will not be different from that of the third part to which was committed the guarding of the kings house (Kings) The place where this third part took up its position is not exactly pointed out in either narrative yet the statement ldquoto keep the watch of the house (temple) for warding offrdquo (Kings) agrees with the appointment ldquoto be guards of the thresholdsrdquo (Chron) since the guarding of the thresholds has no other aim than to prevent unauthorized persons from entering Now since the young king not merely according to the Chron but also according to 2Ki_114 - where we are told that Jehoiada showed the son of the king to the chief men whom he had summoned to the house of Jahve - was in the temple and only after his coronation and Athaliahs death

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

The captains of hundredsmdashTheir names added here are not given in 2 Kings 114 On the other hand Kings reads ldquothe captains of the hundreds of the Carians (or body-guard) and the Runners (or couriers ie royal messengers) ldquomdashterms which were probably obscure to the chronicler

Azariah and AzariahmdashHebrsquoAzaryacirch and lsquoAzaryacirchucirc (Comp 2 Chronicles 212) These names are introduced in the chronicler s well-known manner (by the prefix le marking the object of the verb) His style is very visible in the additions to the narrative as compared with Kings

GUZIK 1-7 2 CHROICLES 23 - JEHOIADA AD THE CROWIG OF JOASH

A The plan is put into practice

1 (2 Chronicles 231-7) Jehoiada and his plan to restore Joash to the throne of Judah

In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds Azariah the son of Jeroham Ishmael the son of Jehohanan Azariah the son of Obed Maaseiah the son of Adaiah and Elishaphat the son of Zichri And they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the chief fathers of Israel and they came to Jerusalem Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God And he said to them ldquoBehold the kingrsquos son shall reign as the LORD has said of the sons of David This is what you shall do One-third of you entering on the Sabbath of the priests and the Levites shall be keeping watch over the doors one-third shall be at the kingrsquos house and one-third at the Gate of the Foundation All the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD But let no one come into the house of the LORD except the priests and those of the Levites who serve They may go in for they are holy but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD And the Levites shall surround the king on all sides every man with his weapons in his hand and whoever comes into the house let him be put to death You are to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes outrdquo

a Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the captains Jehoiada was a godly man who was concerned with restoring the throne of David to the line of David and taking it away from this daughter of Ahab and Jezebel He was also the husband of Jehoshabeath the woman who hid the young boy Joash and protected him from the Athaliahrsquos massacre

i ldquoThe easiest thing for Jehoiada would have been to shut himself up in the temple and leave things to take their course The noblest thing was to come forth and boldly confront the rampant evil of his timerdquo (Meyer)

ii ldquoThe world is full of Athaliahs and it is not befitting that the Jehoiadas should remain at their holy rites and services if there is a paramount need for action in the worldrsquos battlefield in the strife against wrongrdquo (Meyer)

b Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God From the place where the oath was made and the context of the oath we learn that the worship of the true God was not dead in Judah These captains could respond to their responsibility before the LORD

c Behold the kingrsquos son shall reign This was a dramatic moment For six years everyone believed there were no more surviving heirs of Davidrsquos royal line and there was no legitimate ruler to displace the wicked Athaliah The secret had to be secure because the kingrsquos son would be immediately killed if his existence were revealed The captains must have been shocked by the sight of this six-year old heir to the throne

i One reason Athaliah was able to reign for six years was that no one knew any alternative Many people live under the reign of Satan because they donrsquot really know there is a legitimate king ready to take reign in their life

d This is what you shall do Jehoiada had a plan to depose the wicked Queen Athaliah and to replace her with the boy king These leaders needed to follow his plan carefully and to do it on the Sabbath Jehoiada chose the Sabbath for the day of the coup because that was the day when the guards changed their shifts and they could assemble two groups of guards at the temple at the same time without attracting attention

i ldquoIt was a weighty work he went about and therefore he took the wisest course the fittest time on the Sabbath when the congregation met and in the temple wither Athaliah and her courtiers seldom camerdquo (Trapp)

PULPIT This chapter records first those careful preparations of Jehoiada which eventuated in the safe proclaiming of Joash king (2 Chronicles 231-11) then the tragic demonstration and tragic end of Athaliah (2 Chronicles 2312-15) and lastly the beneficent action of Jehoiada over people and king to the complete restoration of the worship and temple-services of the true God (2 Chronicles 2316-21) The chapter is very closely paralleled by 2 Kings 114-21 while the characteristic and to be expected differences on the part of our text are very conspicuous These will be noted as they occur While each compiler so definitely keeps on that side of the line which answers the main purpose of his history in the abundant material common to both and to which both resorted all harmonizes still with the supposed objects of the two works respectively

2 Chronicles 231

Jehoiada strengthened himself (see our note 2 Chronicles 121 2 Chronicles 137)

He nerved himself with courage and that courage which results from conviction of duty and of ripe time to achieve it The captains of hundreds (or centurions of the royal guards) are not mentioned in the parallel by name but the significant mention there (2 Kings 115-7) of five detachments (three third parts plus two parts of another body) tally with the number five who are here mentioned by name The five detachments probably summed up a force of nominally five hundred It is interesting to note how often high religious enterprises have been due to the trusting mutual co-operation of very few to begin with and them awakened and led by one Of no one of these five named here is anything known more to his honour than thismdashthat his name is here recorded It is said with the most perfect simplicity of even Hebrew language that he took them with him in covenant

2 They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites and the heads of Israelite families from all the towns When they came to Jerusalem

BARES Jehoiada was unwilling to trust the success of the revolution wholly and entirely to the royal body-guard Accordingly the captains collected from the cities of Judah a strong body of Levites and the chief of the fathers of Israel (i e ldquoJudahrdquo see 2Ch_2034 note) who were brought up to Jerusalem

JAMISO chief of all the fathers of Israelmdash This name is frequently used in Chronicles for Judah and Benjamin now all that remained of Israel Having cautiously entrusted the secret of the young princersquos preservation to all the leading men in the kingdom he enlisted their interest in the royal cause and got their pledge to support it by a secret oath of fidelity

they came to Jerusalemmdash The time chosen for the grand discovery was probably one of the annual festivals when there was a general concourse of the nation at the capital

BESO 2 Chronicles 232 And gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah mdash Because he knew them to be well affected to the cause of God and the king to which they were bound by the two strongest ties conscience and interest and because he could collect them without any suspicion it being their duty to attend at Jerusalem at the solemn feasts the time of one which was probably chosen for this purpose And the chief of the fathers Israel mdash Judah is here called Israel as in

several other places They came to Jerusalem mdash To settle their resolutions with Jehoiada

ELLICOTT (2) And they went about in Judahmdash2 Chronicles 179 1 Samuel 716

The chief of the fathersmdashThe heads of the clans or chiefs of houses

This and the next verse are added by the chronicler In Kings the narrative passes at once to the charge of 2 Chronicles 234 ldquoThis is the thing that ye shall dordquo which is there addressed to the ldquocaptains of the hundredsrdquo or centurions of the royal guard In fact the parallel text is nearly if not altogether silent as to the part played by the Levites in the Restoration and the chronicler appears to have supplemented that account with materials derived from other authorities and perhaps from Levitical traditions That he should have done so is only consistent with his general practice and the special purpose of his history At the same time allowing for certain characteristic additions interpretations and substitutions of phrase for phrase which will be specified in these otes the narrative of the chronicler absolutely coincides with that of Kings treating of the same events and rigidly observing the same limits as well as maintaining a general identity of language We conclude therefore that in this case as elsewhere the chronicler has used as the groundwork of his relation a historical text which contained sections substantially identical with the present narratives of Kings but accompanied by numerous details not found in those books

PULPIT o mention is made in the parallel of the Levites whom our writer is sure to signalize The fathers of Israel The sacredness of the phrase made it dear above the narrowness of the distinctive appellation Judah though the worthies all were gathered as justimplied out of Judah

3 the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the temple of God

Jehoiada said to them ldquoThe kingrsquos son shall reign as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David

BARES By ldquoall the congregationrdquo here is meant the persons referred to in 2Ch_232

ELLICOTT (3) And all the congregationmdashOf the assembled Levites and family chiefs as well as the royal guard

Made a covenant with the kingmdashComp 2 Kings 114 ldquoAnd he made a covenant for themrdquo ie imposed a compact on them made them swear fidelity to the young prince (Comp also 2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53)

The kingrsquos son shall reignmdashOr Behold the kingrsquos son Let him be king

As the Lord hath saidmdashSpake concerning the sons of David in the oracle delivered by the prophet athan (2 Samuel 74-17)

PARKER For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly ( 2 Chronicles 223)

WHAT heart can read these words without being sad with ineffable woe Ahaziah reigned wickedly forty and two years old was he when he began to reign he had a brief reign in Jerusalem only one year long he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab why for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly There must be a mistranslation All nature is offended by this tremendous affront Can we not find some other word for mother Any other word will do better even father would not be so objectionable The one word that cannot be tolerated here is the word that is found namely mother We might close the Bible here and say the book that contains this statement was never inspired But we cannot do so Then the word counsellor is so full of plan premeditation arrangement the mother was a schoolmistress with one pupil and she suggested invented culminated ends whispered threw out hints advised bad policies told him when he was halting because the course was evil to go on apoleon said They that rock the cradle rule the world To have a cradle rocked by such a mother as Athaliah surely were enough to be foredoomed to endless misery How sweetly the narrative would have read had it proceeded on the lines of naturemdashfor his mother was his counsellor to do bravely Surely the word wickedly is a misprint traceable to some careless copyist His mother was his counsellor to do wisely patiently hopefullymdashthese would have been womanly words words most motherly the very words with which we build home and church and heaven But the word is wickedly and we must regard it in its literal significance What are mothers doing now They could be Gods foremost ministers o man can pray like a woman no man has the art of eloquence as a woman has it no one can come into life so silently quietly blessingly

as womanmdashmother sister If women would preach surely the world would listen They ought to preach they know the secret of love they have the answer to the Cross they can solve in some degree the enigma of sacrifice This is the very reason of the horribleness of the text If woman had been otherwise then the word wickedly would not have read with such a sense of irony and moral collision as it does in this instance It is because woman can be so heavenly that she can be so low and wicked and bad it is because she can be so like a saviour that she can be such an engine and agent of ruin

PULPIT All the congregation ie all who have been mentioned in 2 Chronicles 231 and 2 Chronicles 232 for so the parallel makes plain Made a covenant This was the second wider and more embracing covenant This covenant is between all the gathered representatives and the young king Jehoiada no doubt putting all things into shape And he said unto them Behold the kings son shall reign The he is Jehoiada as of course In view of the last clause of 2 Chronicles 234mdashin the parallel Jehoiada showed them the kings son mdashthe likelier rendering of our text here is Behold the kings son he shall reign as etc As the Lord hath said of the sons of David (see 2 Chronicles 616 2 Chronicles 718 2 Samuel 712 1 Kings 24 1 Kings 95) The hereditary nature of the monarchy (2 Samuel 71-29) pervaded ever by the spirit of the covenant is evidently glanced at It is probable that the existence of Joash was news to those to whom Jehoiada as the parallel has it showed hellip the kings son so that double significance lies in the word showed

4 ow this is what you are to do A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors

BARES The writer of Chronicles relates the orders that were given to the Levites the author of Kings those received by the royal body-guard (2Ki_115 note)

JAMISO 4-9 This is the thing that ye shall domdash The arrangements made for defense are here described The people were divided into three bodies one attended as guards to the king while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates and the captains and military officers who entered the temple unarmed to lull suspicion were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armory where David had deposited his

trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion

KampD 4-6 The case is similar with the contradictions in the account of the carrying out of the arrangements agreed upon In Bertheaus view this is the state of the case According to 2Ki_115-8 the one part of the body-guard which on Sabbath mounted guard in the royal palace were to divide themselves into three bands one third was to keep the guard of the royal house which was certainly in the neighbourhood of the main entrance the second third was to stand at the gate Sur probably a side-gate of the palace the third was to stand behind the door of the runners The other part of the body-guard on the other hand - all those who were relieved on the Sabbath - were to occupy the temple so as to defend the young king But according to the representation of the Chronicle (1) the priests and the Levites were to divide themselves into three parts the first third those of the priests and Levites who entered upon their duties on the Sabbath were to be watchers of the thresholds (cf on 1Ch_919) ie were to mount guard in the temple as usual the second third was to be in the house of the king (ie where the first third was to keep watch according to 2 Kings) the third was to be at the gate Jesod Then (2) the whole people were to stand in the courts of the temple and according to 2Ch_236 were to observe the ordinance of Jahve (2Ch_1311) by which they were forbidden to enter the temple From this Bertheau then concludes ldquoThe guarding of the house of Jahve for the protection of the king (2Ki_117) has here become

a יהוה But in opposition to this we have to remark that in 2Ki_115-8 rdquoמשמרת is it not

said that the royal body-guard was to be posted as guards in the royal palace and in the temple that is only a conclusion from the fact that Jehoiada conferred on the matter

with the האות of the executioners and runners ie of the royal satellites and שרי

instructed these centurions that those entering upon the service on Sabbath were to keep watch in three divisions and those retiring from the service in two divisions in the following places which are then more accurately designated The one division of those entering upon the service were to stand according to 2 Kings by the gate Sur according to the Chronicle by the gate Jesod The second according to 2 Kings was to keep the guard of the kings house according to the Chronicle it was to be in or by the kings house The third was according to 2 Kings to be by (in) the gate behind the runners and to keep the guard of the house Massach according to the Chronicle they were to

serve as watchers of the thresholds If as is acknowledged by all the gate סור is identical

with the gate היסוד - although it can neither be ascertained whether the difference in

name has resulted merely from an orthographical error or rests upon a double designation of one gate nor yet can it be pointed out what the position of this gate which is nowhere else mentioned was - then the Chronicle and 2 Kings agree as to the

posts which were to occupy this door The position also of the third part הלך בית(Chron) will not be different from that of the third part to which was committed the guarding of the kings house (Kings) The place where this third part took up its position is not exactly pointed out in either narrative yet the statement ldquoto keep the watch of the house (temple) for warding offrdquo (Kings) agrees with the appointment ldquoto be guards of the thresholdsrdquo (Chron) since the guarding of the thresholds has no other aim than to prevent unauthorized persons from entering Now since the young king not merely according to the Chron but also according to 2Ki_114 - where we are told that Jehoiada showed the son of the king to the chief men whom he had summoned to the house of Jahve - was in the temple and only after his coronation and Athaliahs death

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

ii ldquoThe world is full of Athaliahs and it is not befitting that the Jehoiadas should remain at their holy rites and services if there is a paramount need for action in the worldrsquos battlefield in the strife against wrongrdquo (Meyer)

b Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God From the place where the oath was made and the context of the oath we learn that the worship of the true God was not dead in Judah These captains could respond to their responsibility before the LORD

c Behold the kingrsquos son shall reign This was a dramatic moment For six years everyone believed there were no more surviving heirs of Davidrsquos royal line and there was no legitimate ruler to displace the wicked Athaliah The secret had to be secure because the kingrsquos son would be immediately killed if his existence were revealed The captains must have been shocked by the sight of this six-year old heir to the throne

i One reason Athaliah was able to reign for six years was that no one knew any alternative Many people live under the reign of Satan because they donrsquot really know there is a legitimate king ready to take reign in their life

d This is what you shall do Jehoiada had a plan to depose the wicked Queen Athaliah and to replace her with the boy king These leaders needed to follow his plan carefully and to do it on the Sabbath Jehoiada chose the Sabbath for the day of the coup because that was the day when the guards changed their shifts and they could assemble two groups of guards at the temple at the same time without attracting attention

i ldquoIt was a weighty work he went about and therefore he took the wisest course the fittest time on the Sabbath when the congregation met and in the temple wither Athaliah and her courtiers seldom camerdquo (Trapp)

PULPIT This chapter records first those careful preparations of Jehoiada which eventuated in the safe proclaiming of Joash king (2 Chronicles 231-11) then the tragic demonstration and tragic end of Athaliah (2 Chronicles 2312-15) and lastly the beneficent action of Jehoiada over people and king to the complete restoration of the worship and temple-services of the true God (2 Chronicles 2316-21) The chapter is very closely paralleled by 2 Kings 114-21 while the characteristic and to be expected differences on the part of our text are very conspicuous These will be noted as they occur While each compiler so definitely keeps on that side of the line which answers the main purpose of his history in the abundant material common to both and to which both resorted all harmonizes still with the supposed objects of the two works respectively

2 Chronicles 231

Jehoiada strengthened himself (see our note 2 Chronicles 121 2 Chronicles 137)

He nerved himself with courage and that courage which results from conviction of duty and of ripe time to achieve it The captains of hundreds (or centurions of the royal guards) are not mentioned in the parallel by name but the significant mention there (2 Kings 115-7) of five detachments (three third parts plus two parts of another body) tally with the number five who are here mentioned by name The five detachments probably summed up a force of nominally five hundred It is interesting to note how often high religious enterprises have been due to the trusting mutual co-operation of very few to begin with and them awakened and led by one Of no one of these five named here is anything known more to his honour than thismdashthat his name is here recorded It is said with the most perfect simplicity of even Hebrew language that he took them with him in covenant

2 They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites and the heads of Israelite families from all the towns When they came to Jerusalem

BARES Jehoiada was unwilling to trust the success of the revolution wholly and entirely to the royal body-guard Accordingly the captains collected from the cities of Judah a strong body of Levites and the chief of the fathers of Israel (i e ldquoJudahrdquo see 2Ch_2034 note) who were brought up to Jerusalem

JAMISO chief of all the fathers of Israelmdash This name is frequently used in Chronicles for Judah and Benjamin now all that remained of Israel Having cautiously entrusted the secret of the young princersquos preservation to all the leading men in the kingdom he enlisted their interest in the royal cause and got their pledge to support it by a secret oath of fidelity

they came to Jerusalemmdash The time chosen for the grand discovery was probably one of the annual festivals when there was a general concourse of the nation at the capital

BESO 2 Chronicles 232 And gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah mdash Because he knew them to be well affected to the cause of God and the king to which they were bound by the two strongest ties conscience and interest and because he could collect them without any suspicion it being their duty to attend at Jerusalem at the solemn feasts the time of one which was probably chosen for this purpose And the chief of the fathers Israel mdash Judah is here called Israel as in

several other places They came to Jerusalem mdash To settle their resolutions with Jehoiada

ELLICOTT (2) And they went about in Judahmdash2 Chronicles 179 1 Samuel 716

The chief of the fathersmdashThe heads of the clans or chiefs of houses

This and the next verse are added by the chronicler In Kings the narrative passes at once to the charge of 2 Chronicles 234 ldquoThis is the thing that ye shall dordquo which is there addressed to the ldquocaptains of the hundredsrdquo or centurions of the royal guard In fact the parallel text is nearly if not altogether silent as to the part played by the Levites in the Restoration and the chronicler appears to have supplemented that account with materials derived from other authorities and perhaps from Levitical traditions That he should have done so is only consistent with his general practice and the special purpose of his history At the same time allowing for certain characteristic additions interpretations and substitutions of phrase for phrase which will be specified in these otes the narrative of the chronicler absolutely coincides with that of Kings treating of the same events and rigidly observing the same limits as well as maintaining a general identity of language We conclude therefore that in this case as elsewhere the chronicler has used as the groundwork of his relation a historical text which contained sections substantially identical with the present narratives of Kings but accompanied by numerous details not found in those books

PULPIT o mention is made in the parallel of the Levites whom our writer is sure to signalize The fathers of Israel The sacredness of the phrase made it dear above the narrowness of the distinctive appellation Judah though the worthies all were gathered as justimplied out of Judah

3 the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the temple of God

Jehoiada said to them ldquoThe kingrsquos son shall reign as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David

BARES By ldquoall the congregationrdquo here is meant the persons referred to in 2Ch_232

ELLICOTT (3) And all the congregationmdashOf the assembled Levites and family chiefs as well as the royal guard

Made a covenant with the kingmdashComp 2 Kings 114 ldquoAnd he made a covenant for themrdquo ie imposed a compact on them made them swear fidelity to the young prince (Comp also 2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53)

The kingrsquos son shall reignmdashOr Behold the kingrsquos son Let him be king

As the Lord hath saidmdashSpake concerning the sons of David in the oracle delivered by the prophet athan (2 Samuel 74-17)

PARKER For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly ( 2 Chronicles 223)

WHAT heart can read these words without being sad with ineffable woe Ahaziah reigned wickedly forty and two years old was he when he began to reign he had a brief reign in Jerusalem only one year long he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab why for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly There must be a mistranslation All nature is offended by this tremendous affront Can we not find some other word for mother Any other word will do better even father would not be so objectionable The one word that cannot be tolerated here is the word that is found namely mother We might close the Bible here and say the book that contains this statement was never inspired But we cannot do so Then the word counsellor is so full of plan premeditation arrangement the mother was a schoolmistress with one pupil and she suggested invented culminated ends whispered threw out hints advised bad policies told him when he was halting because the course was evil to go on apoleon said They that rock the cradle rule the world To have a cradle rocked by such a mother as Athaliah surely were enough to be foredoomed to endless misery How sweetly the narrative would have read had it proceeded on the lines of naturemdashfor his mother was his counsellor to do bravely Surely the word wickedly is a misprint traceable to some careless copyist His mother was his counsellor to do wisely patiently hopefullymdashthese would have been womanly words words most motherly the very words with which we build home and church and heaven But the word is wickedly and we must regard it in its literal significance What are mothers doing now They could be Gods foremost ministers o man can pray like a woman no man has the art of eloquence as a woman has it no one can come into life so silently quietly blessingly

as womanmdashmother sister If women would preach surely the world would listen They ought to preach they know the secret of love they have the answer to the Cross they can solve in some degree the enigma of sacrifice This is the very reason of the horribleness of the text If woman had been otherwise then the word wickedly would not have read with such a sense of irony and moral collision as it does in this instance It is because woman can be so heavenly that she can be so low and wicked and bad it is because she can be so like a saviour that she can be such an engine and agent of ruin

PULPIT All the congregation ie all who have been mentioned in 2 Chronicles 231 and 2 Chronicles 232 for so the parallel makes plain Made a covenant This was the second wider and more embracing covenant This covenant is between all the gathered representatives and the young king Jehoiada no doubt putting all things into shape And he said unto them Behold the kings son shall reign The he is Jehoiada as of course In view of the last clause of 2 Chronicles 234mdashin the parallel Jehoiada showed them the kings son mdashthe likelier rendering of our text here is Behold the kings son he shall reign as etc As the Lord hath said of the sons of David (see 2 Chronicles 616 2 Chronicles 718 2 Samuel 712 1 Kings 24 1 Kings 95) The hereditary nature of the monarchy (2 Samuel 71-29) pervaded ever by the spirit of the covenant is evidently glanced at It is probable that the existence of Joash was news to those to whom Jehoiada as the parallel has it showed hellip the kings son so that double significance lies in the word showed

4 ow this is what you are to do A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors

BARES The writer of Chronicles relates the orders that were given to the Levites the author of Kings those received by the royal body-guard (2Ki_115 note)

JAMISO 4-9 This is the thing that ye shall domdash The arrangements made for defense are here described The people were divided into three bodies one attended as guards to the king while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates and the captains and military officers who entered the temple unarmed to lull suspicion were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armory where David had deposited his

trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion

KampD 4-6 The case is similar with the contradictions in the account of the carrying out of the arrangements agreed upon In Bertheaus view this is the state of the case According to 2Ki_115-8 the one part of the body-guard which on Sabbath mounted guard in the royal palace were to divide themselves into three bands one third was to keep the guard of the royal house which was certainly in the neighbourhood of the main entrance the second third was to stand at the gate Sur probably a side-gate of the palace the third was to stand behind the door of the runners The other part of the body-guard on the other hand - all those who were relieved on the Sabbath - were to occupy the temple so as to defend the young king But according to the representation of the Chronicle (1) the priests and the Levites were to divide themselves into three parts the first third those of the priests and Levites who entered upon their duties on the Sabbath were to be watchers of the thresholds (cf on 1Ch_919) ie were to mount guard in the temple as usual the second third was to be in the house of the king (ie where the first third was to keep watch according to 2 Kings) the third was to be at the gate Jesod Then (2) the whole people were to stand in the courts of the temple and according to 2Ch_236 were to observe the ordinance of Jahve (2Ch_1311) by which they were forbidden to enter the temple From this Bertheau then concludes ldquoThe guarding of the house of Jahve for the protection of the king (2Ki_117) has here become

a יהוה But in opposition to this we have to remark that in 2Ki_115-8 rdquoמשמרת is it not

said that the royal body-guard was to be posted as guards in the royal palace and in the temple that is only a conclusion from the fact that Jehoiada conferred on the matter

with the האות of the executioners and runners ie of the royal satellites and שרי

instructed these centurions that those entering upon the service on Sabbath were to keep watch in three divisions and those retiring from the service in two divisions in the following places which are then more accurately designated The one division of those entering upon the service were to stand according to 2 Kings by the gate Sur according to the Chronicle by the gate Jesod The second according to 2 Kings was to keep the guard of the kings house according to the Chronicle it was to be in or by the kings house The third was according to 2 Kings to be by (in) the gate behind the runners and to keep the guard of the house Massach according to the Chronicle they were to

serve as watchers of the thresholds If as is acknowledged by all the gate סור is identical

with the gate היסוד - although it can neither be ascertained whether the difference in

name has resulted merely from an orthographical error or rests upon a double designation of one gate nor yet can it be pointed out what the position of this gate which is nowhere else mentioned was - then the Chronicle and 2 Kings agree as to the

posts which were to occupy this door The position also of the third part הלך בית(Chron) will not be different from that of the third part to which was committed the guarding of the kings house (Kings) The place where this third part took up its position is not exactly pointed out in either narrative yet the statement ldquoto keep the watch of the house (temple) for warding offrdquo (Kings) agrees with the appointment ldquoto be guards of the thresholdsrdquo (Chron) since the guarding of the thresholds has no other aim than to prevent unauthorized persons from entering Now since the young king not merely according to the Chron but also according to 2Ki_114 - where we are told that Jehoiada showed the son of the king to the chief men whom he had summoned to the house of Jahve - was in the temple and only after his coronation and Athaliahs death

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

He nerved himself with courage and that courage which results from conviction of duty and of ripe time to achieve it The captains of hundreds (or centurions of the royal guards) are not mentioned in the parallel by name but the significant mention there (2 Kings 115-7) of five detachments (three third parts plus two parts of another body) tally with the number five who are here mentioned by name The five detachments probably summed up a force of nominally five hundred It is interesting to note how often high religious enterprises have been due to the trusting mutual co-operation of very few to begin with and them awakened and led by one Of no one of these five named here is anything known more to his honour than thismdashthat his name is here recorded It is said with the most perfect simplicity of even Hebrew language that he took them with him in covenant

2 They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites and the heads of Israelite families from all the towns When they came to Jerusalem

BARES Jehoiada was unwilling to trust the success of the revolution wholly and entirely to the royal body-guard Accordingly the captains collected from the cities of Judah a strong body of Levites and the chief of the fathers of Israel (i e ldquoJudahrdquo see 2Ch_2034 note) who were brought up to Jerusalem

JAMISO chief of all the fathers of Israelmdash This name is frequently used in Chronicles for Judah and Benjamin now all that remained of Israel Having cautiously entrusted the secret of the young princersquos preservation to all the leading men in the kingdom he enlisted their interest in the royal cause and got their pledge to support it by a secret oath of fidelity

they came to Jerusalemmdash The time chosen for the grand discovery was probably one of the annual festivals when there was a general concourse of the nation at the capital

BESO 2 Chronicles 232 And gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah mdash Because he knew them to be well affected to the cause of God and the king to which they were bound by the two strongest ties conscience and interest and because he could collect them without any suspicion it being their duty to attend at Jerusalem at the solemn feasts the time of one which was probably chosen for this purpose And the chief of the fathers Israel mdash Judah is here called Israel as in

several other places They came to Jerusalem mdash To settle their resolutions with Jehoiada

ELLICOTT (2) And they went about in Judahmdash2 Chronicles 179 1 Samuel 716

The chief of the fathersmdashThe heads of the clans or chiefs of houses

This and the next verse are added by the chronicler In Kings the narrative passes at once to the charge of 2 Chronicles 234 ldquoThis is the thing that ye shall dordquo which is there addressed to the ldquocaptains of the hundredsrdquo or centurions of the royal guard In fact the parallel text is nearly if not altogether silent as to the part played by the Levites in the Restoration and the chronicler appears to have supplemented that account with materials derived from other authorities and perhaps from Levitical traditions That he should have done so is only consistent with his general practice and the special purpose of his history At the same time allowing for certain characteristic additions interpretations and substitutions of phrase for phrase which will be specified in these otes the narrative of the chronicler absolutely coincides with that of Kings treating of the same events and rigidly observing the same limits as well as maintaining a general identity of language We conclude therefore that in this case as elsewhere the chronicler has used as the groundwork of his relation a historical text which contained sections substantially identical with the present narratives of Kings but accompanied by numerous details not found in those books

PULPIT o mention is made in the parallel of the Levites whom our writer is sure to signalize The fathers of Israel The sacredness of the phrase made it dear above the narrowness of the distinctive appellation Judah though the worthies all were gathered as justimplied out of Judah

3 the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the temple of God

Jehoiada said to them ldquoThe kingrsquos son shall reign as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David

BARES By ldquoall the congregationrdquo here is meant the persons referred to in 2Ch_232

ELLICOTT (3) And all the congregationmdashOf the assembled Levites and family chiefs as well as the royal guard

Made a covenant with the kingmdashComp 2 Kings 114 ldquoAnd he made a covenant for themrdquo ie imposed a compact on them made them swear fidelity to the young prince (Comp also 2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53)

The kingrsquos son shall reignmdashOr Behold the kingrsquos son Let him be king

As the Lord hath saidmdashSpake concerning the sons of David in the oracle delivered by the prophet athan (2 Samuel 74-17)

PARKER For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly ( 2 Chronicles 223)

WHAT heart can read these words without being sad with ineffable woe Ahaziah reigned wickedly forty and two years old was he when he began to reign he had a brief reign in Jerusalem only one year long he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab why for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly There must be a mistranslation All nature is offended by this tremendous affront Can we not find some other word for mother Any other word will do better even father would not be so objectionable The one word that cannot be tolerated here is the word that is found namely mother We might close the Bible here and say the book that contains this statement was never inspired But we cannot do so Then the word counsellor is so full of plan premeditation arrangement the mother was a schoolmistress with one pupil and she suggested invented culminated ends whispered threw out hints advised bad policies told him when he was halting because the course was evil to go on apoleon said They that rock the cradle rule the world To have a cradle rocked by such a mother as Athaliah surely were enough to be foredoomed to endless misery How sweetly the narrative would have read had it proceeded on the lines of naturemdashfor his mother was his counsellor to do bravely Surely the word wickedly is a misprint traceable to some careless copyist His mother was his counsellor to do wisely patiently hopefullymdashthese would have been womanly words words most motherly the very words with which we build home and church and heaven But the word is wickedly and we must regard it in its literal significance What are mothers doing now They could be Gods foremost ministers o man can pray like a woman no man has the art of eloquence as a woman has it no one can come into life so silently quietly blessingly

as womanmdashmother sister If women would preach surely the world would listen They ought to preach they know the secret of love they have the answer to the Cross they can solve in some degree the enigma of sacrifice This is the very reason of the horribleness of the text If woman had been otherwise then the word wickedly would not have read with such a sense of irony and moral collision as it does in this instance It is because woman can be so heavenly that she can be so low and wicked and bad it is because she can be so like a saviour that she can be such an engine and agent of ruin

PULPIT All the congregation ie all who have been mentioned in 2 Chronicles 231 and 2 Chronicles 232 for so the parallel makes plain Made a covenant This was the second wider and more embracing covenant This covenant is between all the gathered representatives and the young king Jehoiada no doubt putting all things into shape And he said unto them Behold the kings son shall reign The he is Jehoiada as of course In view of the last clause of 2 Chronicles 234mdashin the parallel Jehoiada showed them the kings son mdashthe likelier rendering of our text here is Behold the kings son he shall reign as etc As the Lord hath said of the sons of David (see 2 Chronicles 616 2 Chronicles 718 2 Samuel 712 1 Kings 24 1 Kings 95) The hereditary nature of the monarchy (2 Samuel 71-29) pervaded ever by the spirit of the covenant is evidently glanced at It is probable that the existence of Joash was news to those to whom Jehoiada as the parallel has it showed hellip the kings son so that double significance lies in the word showed

4 ow this is what you are to do A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors

BARES The writer of Chronicles relates the orders that were given to the Levites the author of Kings those received by the royal body-guard (2Ki_115 note)

JAMISO 4-9 This is the thing that ye shall domdash The arrangements made for defense are here described The people were divided into three bodies one attended as guards to the king while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates and the captains and military officers who entered the temple unarmed to lull suspicion were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armory where David had deposited his

trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion

KampD 4-6 The case is similar with the contradictions in the account of the carrying out of the arrangements agreed upon In Bertheaus view this is the state of the case According to 2Ki_115-8 the one part of the body-guard which on Sabbath mounted guard in the royal palace were to divide themselves into three bands one third was to keep the guard of the royal house which was certainly in the neighbourhood of the main entrance the second third was to stand at the gate Sur probably a side-gate of the palace the third was to stand behind the door of the runners The other part of the body-guard on the other hand - all those who were relieved on the Sabbath - were to occupy the temple so as to defend the young king But according to the representation of the Chronicle (1) the priests and the Levites were to divide themselves into three parts the first third those of the priests and Levites who entered upon their duties on the Sabbath were to be watchers of the thresholds (cf on 1Ch_919) ie were to mount guard in the temple as usual the second third was to be in the house of the king (ie where the first third was to keep watch according to 2 Kings) the third was to be at the gate Jesod Then (2) the whole people were to stand in the courts of the temple and according to 2Ch_236 were to observe the ordinance of Jahve (2Ch_1311) by which they were forbidden to enter the temple From this Bertheau then concludes ldquoThe guarding of the house of Jahve for the protection of the king (2Ki_117) has here become

a יהוה But in opposition to this we have to remark that in 2Ki_115-8 rdquoמשמרת is it not

said that the royal body-guard was to be posted as guards in the royal palace and in the temple that is only a conclusion from the fact that Jehoiada conferred on the matter

with the האות of the executioners and runners ie of the royal satellites and שרי

instructed these centurions that those entering upon the service on Sabbath were to keep watch in three divisions and those retiring from the service in two divisions in the following places which are then more accurately designated The one division of those entering upon the service were to stand according to 2 Kings by the gate Sur according to the Chronicle by the gate Jesod The second according to 2 Kings was to keep the guard of the kings house according to the Chronicle it was to be in or by the kings house The third was according to 2 Kings to be by (in) the gate behind the runners and to keep the guard of the house Massach according to the Chronicle they were to

serve as watchers of the thresholds If as is acknowledged by all the gate סור is identical

with the gate היסוד - although it can neither be ascertained whether the difference in

name has resulted merely from an orthographical error or rests upon a double designation of one gate nor yet can it be pointed out what the position of this gate which is nowhere else mentioned was - then the Chronicle and 2 Kings agree as to the

posts which were to occupy this door The position also of the third part הלך בית(Chron) will not be different from that of the third part to which was committed the guarding of the kings house (Kings) The place where this third part took up its position is not exactly pointed out in either narrative yet the statement ldquoto keep the watch of the house (temple) for warding offrdquo (Kings) agrees with the appointment ldquoto be guards of the thresholdsrdquo (Chron) since the guarding of the thresholds has no other aim than to prevent unauthorized persons from entering Now since the young king not merely according to the Chron but also according to 2Ki_114 - where we are told that Jehoiada showed the son of the king to the chief men whom he had summoned to the house of Jahve - was in the temple and only after his coronation and Athaliahs death

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

several other places They came to Jerusalem mdash To settle their resolutions with Jehoiada

ELLICOTT (2) And they went about in Judahmdash2 Chronicles 179 1 Samuel 716

The chief of the fathersmdashThe heads of the clans or chiefs of houses

This and the next verse are added by the chronicler In Kings the narrative passes at once to the charge of 2 Chronicles 234 ldquoThis is the thing that ye shall dordquo which is there addressed to the ldquocaptains of the hundredsrdquo or centurions of the royal guard In fact the parallel text is nearly if not altogether silent as to the part played by the Levites in the Restoration and the chronicler appears to have supplemented that account with materials derived from other authorities and perhaps from Levitical traditions That he should have done so is only consistent with his general practice and the special purpose of his history At the same time allowing for certain characteristic additions interpretations and substitutions of phrase for phrase which will be specified in these otes the narrative of the chronicler absolutely coincides with that of Kings treating of the same events and rigidly observing the same limits as well as maintaining a general identity of language We conclude therefore that in this case as elsewhere the chronicler has used as the groundwork of his relation a historical text which contained sections substantially identical with the present narratives of Kings but accompanied by numerous details not found in those books

PULPIT o mention is made in the parallel of the Levites whom our writer is sure to signalize The fathers of Israel The sacredness of the phrase made it dear above the narrowness of the distinctive appellation Judah though the worthies all were gathered as justimplied out of Judah

3 the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the temple of God

Jehoiada said to them ldquoThe kingrsquos son shall reign as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David

BARES By ldquoall the congregationrdquo here is meant the persons referred to in 2Ch_232

ELLICOTT (3) And all the congregationmdashOf the assembled Levites and family chiefs as well as the royal guard

Made a covenant with the kingmdashComp 2 Kings 114 ldquoAnd he made a covenant for themrdquo ie imposed a compact on them made them swear fidelity to the young prince (Comp also 2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53)

The kingrsquos son shall reignmdashOr Behold the kingrsquos son Let him be king

As the Lord hath saidmdashSpake concerning the sons of David in the oracle delivered by the prophet athan (2 Samuel 74-17)

PARKER For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly ( 2 Chronicles 223)

WHAT heart can read these words without being sad with ineffable woe Ahaziah reigned wickedly forty and two years old was he when he began to reign he had a brief reign in Jerusalem only one year long he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab why for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly There must be a mistranslation All nature is offended by this tremendous affront Can we not find some other word for mother Any other word will do better even father would not be so objectionable The one word that cannot be tolerated here is the word that is found namely mother We might close the Bible here and say the book that contains this statement was never inspired But we cannot do so Then the word counsellor is so full of plan premeditation arrangement the mother was a schoolmistress with one pupil and she suggested invented culminated ends whispered threw out hints advised bad policies told him when he was halting because the course was evil to go on apoleon said They that rock the cradle rule the world To have a cradle rocked by such a mother as Athaliah surely were enough to be foredoomed to endless misery How sweetly the narrative would have read had it proceeded on the lines of naturemdashfor his mother was his counsellor to do bravely Surely the word wickedly is a misprint traceable to some careless copyist His mother was his counsellor to do wisely patiently hopefullymdashthese would have been womanly words words most motherly the very words with which we build home and church and heaven But the word is wickedly and we must regard it in its literal significance What are mothers doing now They could be Gods foremost ministers o man can pray like a woman no man has the art of eloquence as a woman has it no one can come into life so silently quietly blessingly

as womanmdashmother sister If women would preach surely the world would listen They ought to preach they know the secret of love they have the answer to the Cross they can solve in some degree the enigma of sacrifice This is the very reason of the horribleness of the text If woman had been otherwise then the word wickedly would not have read with such a sense of irony and moral collision as it does in this instance It is because woman can be so heavenly that she can be so low and wicked and bad it is because she can be so like a saviour that she can be such an engine and agent of ruin

PULPIT All the congregation ie all who have been mentioned in 2 Chronicles 231 and 2 Chronicles 232 for so the parallel makes plain Made a covenant This was the second wider and more embracing covenant This covenant is between all the gathered representatives and the young king Jehoiada no doubt putting all things into shape And he said unto them Behold the kings son shall reign The he is Jehoiada as of course In view of the last clause of 2 Chronicles 234mdashin the parallel Jehoiada showed them the kings son mdashthe likelier rendering of our text here is Behold the kings son he shall reign as etc As the Lord hath said of the sons of David (see 2 Chronicles 616 2 Chronicles 718 2 Samuel 712 1 Kings 24 1 Kings 95) The hereditary nature of the monarchy (2 Samuel 71-29) pervaded ever by the spirit of the covenant is evidently glanced at It is probable that the existence of Joash was news to those to whom Jehoiada as the parallel has it showed hellip the kings son so that double significance lies in the word showed

4 ow this is what you are to do A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors

BARES The writer of Chronicles relates the orders that were given to the Levites the author of Kings those received by the royal body-guard (2Ki_115 note)

JAMISO 4-9 This is the thing that ye shall domdash The arrangements made for defense are here described The people were divided into three bodies one attended as guards to the king while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates and the captains and military officers who entered the temple unarmed to lull suspicion were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armory where David had deposited his

trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion

KampD 4-6 The case is similar with the contradictions in the account of the carrying out of the arrangements agreed upon In Bertheaus view this is the state of the case According to 2Ki_115-8 the one part of the body-guard which on Sabbath mounted guard in the royal palace were to divide themselves into three bands one third was to keep the guard of the royal house which was certainly in the neighbourhood of the main entrance the second third was to stand at the gate Sur probably a side-gate of the palace the third was to stand behind the door of the runners The other part of the body-guard on the other hand - all those who were relieved on the Sabbath - were to occupy the temple so as to defend the young king But according to the representation of the Chronicle (1) the priests and the Levites were to divide themselves into three parts the first third those of the priests and Levites who entered upon their duties on the Sabbath were to be watchers of the thresholds (cf on 1Ch_919) ie were to mount guard in the temple as usual the second third was to be in the house of the king (ie where the first third was to keep watch according to 2 Kings) the third was to be at the gate Jesod Then (2) the whole people were to stand in the courts of the temple and according to 2Ch_236 were to observe the ordinance of Jahve (2Ch_1311) by which they were forbidden to enter the temple From this Bertheau then concludes ldquoThe guarding of the house of Jahve for the protection of the king (2Ki_117) has here become

a יהוה But in opposition to this we have to remark that in 2Ki_115-8 rdquoמשמרת is it not

said that the royal body-guard was to be posted as guards in the royal palace and in the temple that is only a conclusion from the fact that Jehoiada conferred on the matter

with the האות of the executioners and runners ie of the royal satellites and שרי

instructed these centurions that those entering upon the service on Sabbath were to keep watch in three divisions and those retiring from the service in two divisions in the following places which are then more accurately designated The one division of those entering upon the service were to stand according to 2 Kings by the gate Sur according to the Chronicle by the gate Jesod The second according to 2 Kings was to keep the guard of the kings house according to the Chronicle it was to be in or by the kings house The third was according to 2 Kings to be by (in) the gate behind the runners and to keep the guard of the house Massach according to the Chronicle they were to

serve as watchers of the thresholds If as is acknowledged by all the gate סור is identical

with the gate היסוד - although it can neither be ascertained whether the difference in

name has resulted merely from an orthographical error or rests upon a double designation of one gate nor yet can it be pointed out what the position of this gate which is nowhere else mentioned was - then the Chronicle and 2 Kings agree as to the

posts which were to occupy this door The position also of the third part הלך בית(Chron) will not be different from that of the third part to which was committed the guarding of the kings house (Kings) The place where this third part took up its position is not exactly pointed out in either narrative yet the statement ldquoto keep the watch of the house (temple) for warding offrdquo (Kings) agrees with the appointment ldquoto be guards of the thresholdsrdquo (Chron) since the guarding of the thresholds has no other aim than to prevent unauthorized persons from entering Now since the young king not merely according to the Chron but also according to 2Ki_114 - where we are told that Jehoiada showed the son of the king to the chief men whom he had summoned to the house of Jahve - was in the temple and only after his coronation and Athaliahs death

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

BARES By ldquoall the congregationrdquo here is meant the persons referred to in 2Ch_232

ELLICOTT (3) And all the congregationmdashOf the assembled Levites and family chiefs as well as the royal guard

Made a covenant with the kingmdashComp 2 Kings 114 ldquoAnd he made a covenant for themrdquo ie imposed a compact on them made them swear fidelity to the young prince (Comp also 2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53)

The kingrsquos son shall reignmdashOr Behold the kingrsquos son Let him be king

As the Lord hath saidmdashSpake concerning the sons of David in the oracle delivered by the prophet athan (2 Samuel 74-17)

PARKER For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly ( 2 Chronicles 223)

WHAT heart can read these words without being sad with ineffable woe Ahaziah reigned wickedly forty and two years old was he when he began to reign he had a brief reign in Jerusalem only one year long he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab why for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly There must be a mistranslation All nature is offended by this tremendous affront Can we not find some other word for mother Any other word will do better even father would not be so objectionable The one word that cannot be tolerated here is the word that is found namely mother We might close the Bible here and say the book that contains this statement was never inspired But we cannot do so Then the word counsellor is so full of plan premeditation arrangement the mother was a schoolmistress with one pupil and she suggested invented culminated ends whispered threw out hints advised bad policies told him when he was halting because the course was evil to go on apoleon said They that rock the cradle rule the world To have a cradle rocked by such a mother as Athaliah surely were enough to be foredoomed to endless misery How sweetly the narrative would have read had it proceeded on the lines of naturemdashfor his mother was his counsellor to do bravely Surely the word wickedly is a misprint traceable to some careless copyist His mother was his counsellor to do wisely patiently hopefullymdashthese would have been womanly words words most motherly the very words with which we build home and church and heaven But the word is wickedly and we must regard it in its literal significance What are mothers doing now They could be Gods foremost ministers o man can pray like a woman no man has the art of eloquence as a woman has it no one can come into life so silently quietly blessingly

as womanmdashmother sister If women would preach surely the world would listen They ought to preach they know the secret of love they have the answer to the Cross they can solve in some degree the enigma of sacrifice This is the very reason of the horribleness of the text If woman had been otherwise then the word wickedly would not have read with such a sense of irony and moral collision as it does in this instance It is because woman can be so heavenly that she can be so low and wicked and bad it is because she can be so like a saviour that she can be such an engine and agent of ruin

PULPIT All the congregation ie all who have been mentioned in 2 Chronicles 231 and 2 Chronicles 232 for so the parallel makes plain Made a covenant This was the second wider and more embracing covenant This covenant is between all the gathered representatives and the young king Jehoiada no doubt putting all things into shape And he said unto them Behold the kings son shall reign The he is Jehoiada as of course In view of the last clause of 2 Chronicles 234mdashin the parallel Jehoiada showed them the kings son mdashthe likelier rendering of our text here is Behold the kings son he shall reign as etc As the Lord hath said of the sons of David (see 2 Chronicles 616 2 Chronicles 718 2 Samuel 712 1 Kings 24 1 Kings 95) The hereditary nature of the monarchy (2 Samuel 71-29) pervaded ever by the spirit of the covenant is evidently glanced at It is probable that the existence of Joash was news to those to whom Jehoiada as the parallel has it showed hellip the kings son so that double significance lies in the word showed

4 ow this is what you are to do A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors

BARES The writer of Chronicles relates the orders that were given to the Levites the author of Kings those received by the royal body-guard (2Ki_115 note)

JAMISO 4-9 This is the thing that ye shall domdash The arrangements made for defense are here described The people were divided into three bodies one attended as guards to the king while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates and the captains and military officers who entered the temple unarmed to lull suspicion were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armory where David had deposited his

trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion

KampD 4-6 The case is similar with the contradictions in the account of the carrying out of the arrangements agreed upon In Bertheaus view this is the state of the case According to 2Ki_115-8 the one part of the body-guard which on Sabbath mounted guard in the royal palace were to divide themselves into three bands one third was to keep the guard of the royal house which was certainly in the neighbourhood of the main entrance the second third was to stand at the gate Sur probably a side-gate of the palace the third was to stand behind the door of the runners The other part of the body-guard on the other hand - all those who were relieved on the Sabbath - were to occupy the temple so as to defend the young king But according to the representation of the Chronicle (1) the priests and the Levites were to divide themselves into three parts the first third those of the priests and Levites who entered upon their duties on the Sabbath were to be watchers of the thresholds (cf on 1Ch_919) ie were to mount guard in the temple as usual the second third was to be in the house of the king (ie where the first third was to keep watch according to 2 Kings) the third was to be at the gate Jesod Then (2) the whole people were to stand in the courts of the temple and according to 2Ch_236 were to observe the ordinance of Jahve (2Ch_1311) by which they were forbidden to enter the temple From this Bertheau then concludes ldquoThe guarding of the house of Jahve for the protection of the king (2Ki_117) has here become

a יהוה But in opposition to this we have to remark that in 2Ki_115-8 rdquoמשמרת is it not

said that the royal body-guard was to be posted as guards in the royal palace and in the temple that is only a conclusion from the fact that Jehoiada conferred on the matter

with the האות of the executioners and runners ie of the royal satellites and שרי

instructed these centurions that those entering upon the service on Sabbath were to keep watch in three divisions and those retiring from the service in two divisions in the following places which are then more accurately designated The one division of those entering upon the service were to stand according to 2 Kings by the gate Sur according to the Chronicle by the gate Jesod The second according to 2 Kings was to keep the guard of the kings house according to the Chronicle it was to be in or by the kings house The third was according to 2 Kings to be by (in) the gate behind the runners and to keep the guard of the house Massach according to the Chronicle they were to

serve as watchers of the thresholds If as is acknowledged by all the gate סור is identical

with the gate היסוד - although it can neither be ascertained whether the difference in

name has resulted merely from an orthographical error or rests upon a double designation of one gate nor yet can it be pointed out what the position of this gate which is nowhere else mentioned was - then the Chronicle and 2 Kings agree as to the

posts which were to occupy this door The position also of the third part הלך בית(Chron) will not be different from that of the third part to which was committed the guarding of the kings house (Kings) The place where this third part took up its position is not exactly pointed out in either narrative yet the statement ldquoto keep the watch of the house (temple) for warding offrdquo (Kings) agrees with the appointment ldquoto be guards of the thresholdsrdquo (Chron) since the guarding of the thresholds has no other aim than to prevent unauthorized persons from entering Now since the young king not merely according to the Chron but also according to 2Ki_114 - where we are told that Jehoiada showed the son of the king to the chief men whom he had summoned to the house of Jahve - was in the temple and only after his coronation and Athaliahs death

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

as womanmdashmother sister If women would preach surely the world would listen They ought to preach they know the secret of love they have the answer to the Cross they can solve in some degree the enigma of sacrifice This is the very reason of the horribleness of the text If woman had been otherwise then the word wickedly would not have read with such a sense of irony and moral collision as it does in this instance It is because woman can be so heavenly that she can be so low and wicked and bad it is because she can be so like a saviour that she can be such an engine and agent of ruin

PULPIT All the congregation ie all who have been mentioned in 2 Chronicles 231 and 2 Chronicles 232 for so the parallel makes plain Made a covenant This was the second wider and more embracing covenant This covenant is between all the gathered representatives and the young king Jehoiada no doubt putting all things into shape And he said unto them Behold the kings son shall reign The he is Jehoiada as of course In view of the last clause of 2 Chronicles 234mdashin the parallel Jehoiada showed them the kings son mdashthe likelier rendering of our text here is Behold the kings son he shall reign as etc As the Lord hath said of the sons of David (see 2 Chronicles 616 2 Chronicles 718 2 Samuel 712 1 Kings 24 1 Kings 95) The hereditary nature of the monarchy (2 Samuel 71-29) pervaded ever by the spirit of the covenant is evidently glanced at It is probable that the existence of Joash was news to those to whom Jehoiada as the parallel has it showed hellip the kings son so that double significance lies in the word showed

4 ow this is what you are to do A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors

BARES The writer of Chronicles relates the orders that were given to the Levites the author of Kings those received by the royal body-guard (2Ki_115 note)

JAMISO 4-9 This is the thing that ye shall domdash The arrangements made for defense are here described The people were divided into three bodies one attended as guards to the king while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates and the captains and military officers who entered the temple unarmed to lull suspicion were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armory where David had deposited his

trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion

KampD 4-6 The case is similar with the contradictions in the account of the carrying out of the arrangements agreed upon In Bertheaus view this is the state of the case According to 2Ki_115-8 the one part of the body-guard which on Sabbath mounted guard in the royal palace were to divide themselves into three bands one third was to keep the guard of the royal house which was certainly in the neighbourhood of the main entrance the second third was to stand at the gate Sur probably a side-gate of the palace the third was to stand behind the door of the runners The other part of the body-guard on the other hand - all those who were relieved on the Sabbath - were to occupy the temple so as to defend the young king But according to the representation of the Chronicle (1) the priests and the Levites were to divide themselves into three parts the first third those of the priests and Levites who entered upon their duties on the Sabbath were to be watchers of the thresholds (cf on 1Ch_919) ie were to mount guard in the temple as usual the second third was to be in the house of the king (ie where the first third was to keep watch according to 2 Kings) the third was to be at the gate Jesod Then (2) the whole people were to stand in the courts of the temple and according to 2Ch_236 were to observe the ordinance of Jahve (2Ch_1311) by which they were forbidden to enter the temple From this Bertheau then concludes ldquoThe guarding of the house of Jahve for the protection of the king (2Ki_117) has here become

a יהוה But in opposition to this we have to remark that in 2Ki_115-8 rdquoמשמרת is it not

said that the royal body-guard was to be posted as guards in the royal palace and in the temple that is only a conclusion from the fact that Jehoiada conferred on the matter

with the האות of the executioners and runners ie of the royal satellites and שרי

instructed these centurions that those entering upon the service on Sabbath were to keep watch in three divisions and those retiring from the service in two divisions in the following places which are then more accurately designated The one division of those entering upon the service were to stand according to 2 Kings by the gate Sur according to the Chronicle by the gate Jesod The second according to 2 Kings was to keep the guard of the kings house according to the Chronicle it was to be in or by the kings house The third was according to 2 Kings to be by (in) the gate behind the runners and to keep the guard of the house Massach according to the Chronicle they were to

serve as watchers of the thresholds If as is acknowledged by all the gate סור is identical

with the gate היסוד - although it can neither be ascertained whether the difference in

name has resulted merely from an orthographical error or rests upon a double designation of one gate nor yet can it be pointed out what the position of this gate which is nowhere else mentioned was - then the Chronicle and 2 Kings agree as to the

posts which were to occupy this door The position also of the third part הלך בית(Chron) will not be different from that of the third part to which was committed the guarding of the kings house (Kings) The place where this third part took up its position is not exactly pointed out in either narrative yet the statement ldquoto keep the watch of the house (temple) for warding offrdquo (Kings) agrees with the appointment ldquoto be guards of the thresholdsrdquo (Chron) since the guarding of the thresholds has no other aim than to prevent unauthorized persons from entering Now since the young king not merely according to the Chron but also according to 2Ki_114 - where we are told that Jehoiada showed the son of the king to the chief men whom he had summoned to the house of Jahve - was in the temple and only after his coronation and Athaliahs death

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion

KampD 4-6 The case is similar with the contradictions in the account of the carrying out of the arrangements agreed upon In Bertheaus view this is the state of the case According to 2Ki_115-8 the one part of the body-guard which on Sabbath mounted guard in the royal palace were to divide themselves into three bands one third was to keep the guard of the royal house which was certainly in the neighbourhood of the main entrance the second third was to stand at the gate Sur probably a side-gate of the palace the third was to stand behind the door of the runners The other part of the body-guard on the other hand - all those who were relieved on the Sabbath - were to occupy the temple so as to defend the young king But according to the representation of the Chronicle (1) the priests and the Levites were to divide themselves into three parts the first third those of the priests and Levites who entered upon their duties on the Sabbath were to be watchers of the thresholds (cf on 1Ch_919) ie were to mount guard in the temple as usual the second third was to be in the house of the king (ie where the first third was to keep watch according to 2 Kings) the third was to be at the gate Jesod Then (2) the whole people were to stand in the courts of the temple and according to 2Ch_236 were to observe the ordinance of Jahve (2Ch_1311) by which they were forbidden to enter the temple From this Bertheau then concludes ldquoThe guarding of the house of Jahve for the protection of the king (2Ki_117) has here become

a יהוה But in opposition to this we have to remark that in 2Ki_115-8 rdquoמשמרת is it not

said that the royal body-guard was to be posted as guards in the royal palace and in the temple that is only a conclusion from the fact that Jehoiada conferred on the matter

with the האות of the executioners and runners ie of the royal satellites and שרי

instructed these centurions that those entering upon the service on Sabbath were to keep watch in three divisions and those retiring from the service in two divisions in the following places which are then more accurately designated The one division of those entering upon the service were to stand according to 2 Kings by the gate Sur according to the Chronicle by the gate Jesod The second according to 2 Kings was to keep the guard of the kings house according to the Chronicle it was to be in or by the kings house The third was according to 2 Kings to be by (in) the gate behind the runners and to keep the guard of the house Massach according to the Chronicle they were to

serve as watchers of the thresholds If as is acknowledged by all the gate סור is identical

with the gate היסוד - although it can neither be ascertained whether the difference in

name has resulted merely from an orthographical error or rests upon a double designation of one gate nor yet can it be pointed out what the position of this gate which is nowhere else mentioned was - then the Chronicle and 2 Kings agree as to the

posts which were to occupy this door The position also of the third part הלך בית(Chron) will not be different from that of the third part to which was committed the guarding of the kings house (Kings) The place where this third part took up its position is not exactly pointed out in either narrative yet the statement ldquoto keep the watch of the house (temple) for warding offrdquo (Kings) agrees with the appointment ldquoto be guards of the thresholdsrdquo (Chron) since the guarding of the thresholds has no other aim than to prevent unauthorized persons from entering Now since the young king not merely according to the Chron but also according to 2Ki_114 - where we are told that Jehoiada showed the son of the king to the chief men whom he had summoned to the house of Jahve - was in the temple and only after his coronation and Athaliahs death

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

was led solemnly into the royal palace we might take the kings house the guard of which the one third of those entering upon the service were to keep (2Ki_117) to be the

temple building in which the young king was and interpret הלך בית in accordance with

that idea In that case there would be no reference to the settling of guards in the palace and that view would seem to be favoured by the circumstance that the other third part of those entering upon their service on the Sabbath were to post themselves at the gate

behind the runners and keep the guard of the house חמ That חמ is not a nom propr

but appellat from נסח to ward off signifying warding off is unanimously acknowledged

by modern commentators only Thenius would alter חמ into ונסח ldquoand shall ward offrdquo

Gesenius on the contrary in his Thesaurus takes the word to be a substantive cum

משמרת per appositionem conjunctum in the signification the guard for warding off and

translates et vos agetis custodiam templi ad depellendum sc populum (to ward off) If this interpretation be correct then these words also do not treat of a palace guard and

to take ית to signify the temple is so evidently suggested by the context according to ה

which the high priest conducted the whole transaction in the temple that we must have better grounds for referring the words to the royal palace than the mere presumption that because the high priest discussed the plan with the captains of the royal body-guard it must be the occupation of the royal palace which is spoken of

But quite apart from the Chronicle even the further account of the matter in 2 Kings 11 is unfavourable to the placing of guards in the royal palace According to 2Ch_239 the captains did exactly as Jehoiada commanded They took each of them their men -those coming on the Sabbath and those departing - and went to the priest Jehoiada who gave them Davids weapons out of the house of God (2Ch_2310) and the satellites stationed themselves in the court of the temple and there the king was crowned The unambiguous statement 2Ch_239 that the captains each with his men - ie those coming on Sabbath (entering upon the service) and those departing - came to the high priest in the temple and there took up their position in the court decisively excludes the idea that ldquothose coming on the Sabbathrdquo had occupied the guard-posts in the royal palace and demands that the divisions mentioned in 2Ch_235 and 2Ch_236 should be posted at different parts and gates of the temple That one third part had assigned to it a place behind the gate of the runners is not at all inconsistent with the above idea for even if the gate behind the runners be identical with the gate of the runners (2Ki_1119) it by no means follows from that that it was a gate of the palace and not of the outer court of the temple In accordance with this view then 2Ki_115 2Ki_116 do not treat of an occupation of the royal palace but of a provision for the security of the temple by the posting of guards It is moreover against the supposition that the entrances to the palace were occupied by guards that Athaliah when she heard from her palace the noise of the people in the temple came immediately into the temple and was dragged forth and slain by the captains there in command For what purpose can they have placed guards by the palace gates if they did not desire to put any hindrance in the way of the queens going forth into the temple The hypotheses of Thenius that it was done to keep away those who were devoted to Athaliah to make themselves masters of the palace and to hinder Athaliah from taking any measures in opposition to them and to guard the place of the throne are nothing but expedients resulting from embarrassment If there was no intention to put any hindrance in the way of the queen leaving the palace there could have been none to prevent her taking opposing measures For the rest the result obtained by careful consideration of the account in 2 Kings 11 that in 2Ch_235 2Ch_236 an occupation by guards not of the royal palace but of the temple is spoken of

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

does not stand or fall with the supposition that הלך ית was the dwelling of the young

king in the temple building and not the palace The expression הלך ית משמרת to שמר

guard the guard of the kings house ie to have regard to whatever is to be regarded in reference to the kings house is so indefinite and elastic that it may have been used of a post which watched from the outer court of the temple what was going on in the palace

which was over against the temple With this also the corresponding הלך בית in the

short account of the distribution of the guards given by the chronicler (2Ch_235) may be reconciled if we translate it ldquoat the house of the kingrdquo and call to mind that according to 2Ki_1618 and 1Ki_105 there was a special approach from the palace to the temple for the king which this division may have had to guard But notwithstanding the guarding of this way Athaliah could come from the palace into the court of the temple by another way or perhaps the guards were less watchful at their posts during the solemnity of the young kings coronation

And not less groundless is the assertion that the priest Jehoiada availed himself in the execution of his plan according to 2 Kings 11 mainly of the co-operation of the royal body-guard according to the Chronicle mainly of that of the Levites or that the chronicler as Thenius expresses it ldquohas made the body-guards of 2 Kings into Levites in order to diver to the priesthood the honour which belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo The

האות mentioned by name in the Chronicle with whom Jehoiada discussed his plan שרי

and who had command of the guards when it was carried out are not called Levites and may consequently have been captains of the executioners and runners ie of the royal body-guard as they are designated in 2Ki_114 But the men who occupied the various

posts are called in both texts תה אי 2)Ki_115 2Ch_234( in 2Ki_117 and 2Ki_119

the corresponding תה השבת is added while in the Chronicle the יצאי are expressly באי

called Levites the words וללום being added But we know from Luk_15 להנים

compared with 1 Chron 24 that the priests and Levites performed the service in the temple in courses from one Sabbath to another while we have no record of any such arrangement as to the service of the Praetorians so that we must understand the words ldquocoming on the Sabbathrdquo (entering upon the service) and ldquogoing on the Sabbathrdquo (those relieved from it) of the Levites in the first place Had it been intended that by these words in 2 Kings 11 we should understand Praetorians it must necessarily have been clearly said From the words spoken to the centurions of the body-guard ldquothe third part of yourdquo etc it does not follow at all as a matter of course that they were so any more

than from the fact that in 2Ki_1111 the posts set are called הרצים the runners =

satellites If we suppose that in this extraordinary case the Levitic temple servants were placed under the command of centurions of the royal body-guard who were in league

with the high priest the designation of the men they commanded by the name רצים satellites is fully explained the men having been previously more accurately described as those who were entering upon and being relieved from service on the Sabbath In this way I have explained the matter in my apologet Versuch uumlber die Chron S 362ff but this explanation of it has neither been regarded nor confuted by Thenius and Bertheau

Even the mention of רי and רצים along with the captains and the whole people in 2Ki_

1119 is not inconsistent with it for we may without difficulty suppose as has been said in my commentary on that verse that the royal body-guard immediately after the slaughter of Athaliah went over to the young king just crowned in order that they along with the remainder of the people who were assembled in the court might lead him

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

thence to the royal palace There is only one statement in the two texts which can

scarcely be reconciled with this conjecture - namely the mention of the רצים and of the

people in the temple before Athaliah was slain (2Ch_2312 and 2Ki_1113 Kings) since it follows from that that runners or satellites belonging to the body-guard were either posted or had assembled with the others in the court of the temple To meet this statement we must suppose that the centurions of the body-guard employed not merely the Levitic temple guard but also some of the royal satellites upon whose fidelity they could rely to occupy the posts mentioned in 2Ki_115-7 and 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 so that the company under the command of the centurions who occupied the various posts in the temple consisted partly of Levitic temple guards and partly of royal body-guards But even on this view the suspicion that the chronicler has mentioned the Levites

instead of the body-guard is shown to be groundless and unjust since the רצים also are mentioned in the Chronicle

According to this exposition the true relation between the account in the Chronicle and that in the book of Kings would seem to be something like this Both accounts mention merely the main points of the proceedings - the author of the book of Kings emphasizing the part played in the affair by the royal body-guard the author of the Chronicle on the other hand emphasizing that played by the Levites so that both accounts mutually supplement each other and only when taken together give a full view of the circumstances We have still to make the following remarks on the narrative of the Chronicle in detail The statement (2Ki_115) that all those relived on the Sabbath were to keep guard of the house of Jahve in reference to the king in two divisions is in 2Ch_

235 thus generalized ldquoall the people were in the courts of the house of Jahverdquo ל־העם is all the people except the before-mentioned bodies of men with their captains and comprehends not only the remainder of the people mentioned in 2Ki_1113 and 2Ki_1119 who came to the temple without any special invitation but also the body of guards who were relieved from service on Sabbath This is clear from 2Ch_238 of the Chronicle where we have the supplementary remark that those departing on the Sabbath also as well as those coming did what Jehoiada commanded In addition to this in 2Ch_236 this further command of Jehoiada is communicated Let no one enter

the house of Jahve (יהוה ית is the temple building ie the holy place and the most holy

as distinguished from the courts) save the priests and they that minister of the Levites ie of those Levites who perform the service who are consecrated thereto but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord ie keep what is to be observed in reference to Jahve ie here to keep without the limits appointed in the law to the people in drawing near to the sanctuaries The whole verse therefore contains only an elucidation of the command that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to press farther into the sanctuary

BESO 2 Chronicles 234-5 A third part of you shall be porters of the doors mdashOr rather guards at the gates to prevent any of Athaliahrsquos party from entering into the temple At the gate of the foundation mdash So called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the kingrsquos house to the temple And all the people shall be in the courts mdash In the two courts for by the people here he seems to intend both the generality of the Levites who had no particular station assigned them such as their brethren had and who were to be

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

in the court of the priests and the people who were in the court of the people

ELLICOTT (4) This is the thing that ye shall domdash2 Kings 115 ldquoAnd he charged them saying This is the thingrdquo (ampc There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy

A thirdmdashThe third So 2 Chronicles 235 ldquoThe third of you who come in on the Sabbathrdquo is read also in 2 Kings 115 The chronicler has added the explanatory words ldquobelonging to the priests and to the Levitesrdquo This can hardly be harmonised with 2 Kings 124-12 - The chronicler may have misunderstood the words which in the older account designate the royal guard and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest (Comp 2 Chronicles 235-6 with 2 Kings 114 ldquobrought them into the house of the Lordrdquo) But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than m the account of Kings Moreover the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached The chronicler therefore cannot with fairness be accused of ldquoarbitrary alterationsrdquo unless it be presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (See 1 Chronicles 24 Luke 15) That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative

Shall be porters of the doorsmdashWarders of the thresholds that is of the Temple (1 Chronicles 919 1 Chronicles 922) 1 Kings 115 says ldquoThe third of you that come in on the Sabbath they shall keep the guard of the kingrsquos house ldquothe latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse ldquoAnd the third part (shall be) at the kingrsquos houserdquo The kingrsquos ldquohouserdquo in Kings means the royal palace the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts

PULPIT The first thing that is to be observed is the distinct and repeated mention of the Levites as those on whom the critical and onerous service that came of Jehoiadas resolution was devolved while the parallel does not so much as mention them It may next be noted that our first and second verses state the part that the captains of hundreds were called to perform in collecting the requisite number of Levites from the provincial cities of Judah And once more it may be noted that whereas while we abide close by our own text alone nothing in the description of our 2 Chronicles 234-10 occasions material difficulty even when the perplexity which is considerable does enter on consulting and endeavouring to reconcile the parallel it is with extreme probability due to our not making sufficient allowance

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

for the fact that the matter of the two accounts does not so much offer itself for reconciliation as for concurrent acceptance We have now to follow the description of our own text Of you entering on the sabbath ie of you who enter on your period of duty on such a sabbath See 2 Chronicles 238 the men that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath This alludes as the next clause definitely says to the weekly courses of the Levites as described in 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 241-31 25mdashthe incoming and outgoing companies Porters of the doors ie keepers of the doors of the temple (1 Chronicles 919) This may correspond with the middle clause of 1 Chronicles 246 in the parallel

5 a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord

ELLICOTT (5) And a third part at the gate of the foundationmdash2 Kings 116 reads ldquothe gate Sucircrrdquo which appears there as a gate of the palace (LXX ldquothe middle gaterdquo Syr and Arab ldquothe Butchersrsquo gaterdquo)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LordmdashThis appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist according to which none might enter the holy house itself save the priests It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 114 where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord

PULPIT A third part hellip at the kings house It seems impossible to refer this to the royal palace as some suppose from 2 Chronicles 2319 in the parallel It probably designates the place where the child had been living in concealment This portion of the description appears to correspond with the last clause of 2 Chronicles 235 in the parallel At the gate of the foundation The Hebrew text here is יסוד (Exodus 2912 Le Exodus 47 Habakkuk 313) in the parallel סור a name only found there and unintelligiblemdashprobably a corruption of the other word The gate of the foundation is supposed to have stood at that corner of the area which was strengthened by additional works where was the ravine separating Moriah and the hill to the south All the people Evidently the miscellaneous outside people are not here intended who were not entrusted with the secret and the surprise that was to be but the same

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

all the people as are unmistakably designated in 2 Chronicles 2310 ie all who were appointed to officiate The last clause in each of 2 Chronicles 235 2 Chronicles 236 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel go strongly to confirm the position that the kings house so far does not intend the royal palace but such part of the house of the Lord as had been and then still was about the king (2 Chronicles 237 parallel) in order to keep watch about the king they were set to keep watch of a certain part of the house of the Lord

6 o one is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty they may enter because they are consecrated but all the others are to observe the Lordrsquos command not to enter[a]

BARES Keep the watch of the Lord - i e guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 236 Let none come into the house of the Lord mdash Strictly so called and distinguished from the courts just mentioned namely into the sanctuary or holy place Save the priests and they that minister of the Levites mdashWho are to minister in course or according to my present appointment They shall go in for they are holy mdash They have been consecrated to the service of God and are bound to attend there But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord mdash That is of the house of the Lord as is expressed 2 Kings 116 The meaning is Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king or to oppose the present work which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do

ELLICOTT (6) But let none come into the house of the LordmdashThis verse is not read in Kings Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers In 2 Kings 117 we read instead ldquoAnd the

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

two parts among you all that go out on the Sabbath they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord with regard to the kingrdquo The last words of the present verse ldquoAnd all the people shall keep the watch of the Lordrdquo repeat a portion of this but in a different sense ldquoLet all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuaryrdquo

PULPIT But let none come hellip save the priests Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about and others officiating beside the Levites who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text except under the most generic designation (as before so again in last clause of this verse) of all the people The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of 2 Chronicles 237 in the parallel The distinction between the courts of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 235) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 236) is of course quite apparent

7 The Levites are to station themselves around the king each with weapon in hand Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death Stay close to the king wherever he goesrdquo

BARES Compare 2Ki_118 2Ki_1111 The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions

KampD ldquoAnd the Levites shall compass the king round about each with his weapons in his handrdquo The Levites are the bodies of guards mentioned in 2Ch_234 2Ch_235 If we keep that in view then the following words ldquoevery one who cometh into the house shall be put to deathrdquo say the same as the words ldquoevery one who cometh within the

ranksrdquo (2Ki_118) A contradiction arises only if we misinterpret יפוה and understand it

of the forming of a circle around the king whereas יפוה like פ)םה (Kings) is to be

understood according to the context of the setting of the guards both at the temple gate

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

and in the courts so that whoever entered the court of the temple came within the ranks of the guards thus placed

ELLICOTT (7) And the Levites shall compassmdashKings ldquoAnd ye (ie the centurions of the royal guard) shall compassrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 234) The chronicler characteristically dwells on the share of the Levites in the matter but he does not expressly exclude the royal guard and it is utterly unfair to allege that he has metamorphosed the guardsmen of Kings into Levites ldquoin order to divert to the priesthood the honour which properly belonged to the Praetoriansrdquo (Thenius) The truth may perhaps be that the high priest Jehoiada brought about a combination of the royal guard with the Levitical warders of the Temple and that the united body acted under the command of the five centurions of the guard

Cometh into the housemdash2 Kings 118 has ldquointo the ranksrdquo a rare word (sedccedilrocircth) occurring only four times viz in this narrative thrice and once in 1 Kings 68 (in a different sense)

But be yemdashSo Kings But some MSS and the LXX Vulg Targ and Arab read here ldquoand let them (ie the Levites) berdquo (See ote on 2 Kings 118)

PULPIT And the Levites shall compass the king The matter of 2 Chronicles 238 in the parallel suggests nothing inconsistent with the express mention of the Levites here but rather that the word Levites is desiderated there and its significance perhaps accidentally overlooked when the writer of Kings was using the original authorities and sources of his history

8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered Each one took his menmdashthose who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off dutymdashfor Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

BARES And took every man his men - i e the relief already organized by Jehoiada into three bodies 2Ch_234-5 was further strengthened by the members of the outgoing ldquocourserdquo who were associated in the work to be done

JAMISO Jehoiada dismissed not the coursesmdash As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis the high priest detained those who in other circumstances would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service

KampD 8-10 The account of the occupation of the temple thus arranged agrees with

2Ki_119-11 Instead of האות in 2Ch_238 (Kings) שרי are very fittingly named ldquothe

Levites (as in 2Ch_235) and all Judahrdquo viz in its chiefs since the high priest had assured himself of the support of the heads of the fathers-houses of Israel (2Ch_232) Further to the statement that those who were departing from the service also took part

in the affair it is added ldquofor Jehoiada had not dismissed the coursesrdquo החלקות are the

divisions which according to the arrangement made by David (1 Chron 24-26) had charge of the temple service at that time To the captains Jehoiada gave the spears and shields which had been presented to the temple by David as offerings because they had

come into the temple without weapons see on 2Ki_1110 ועמד ldquoand he caused the

whole people to take positionrdquo is connected formally with 2 ו)ןCh_239 while in 2Ki_

1111 we have simply ועמדו

ELLICOTT (8) The Levites and all Judahmdash2 Kings 119 reads ldquothe captains of the hundredsrdquo The rest of the verse is the same in both narratives so far as the words ldquogo out on the Sabbathrdquo

For Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the coursesmdashThe companies of priests and Levites whose weekly duties had been fulfilled and who under ordinary circumstances would have been formally ldquodismissedrdquo by the high priest were detained at the present emergency as auxiliaries to their brethren who were ldquocoming inrdquo

Instead of this clause Kings has ldquoAnd they came to Jehoiada the priestrdquo ie the captains of the hundreds came to him a remark which quite naturally preludes the statement of the next verse both there and here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 238-11) Joash is crowned king

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God Then he set all the people every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and by the temple all around the king And they brought out the kingrsquos son put the crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

a So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded This was an important plan that had to be followed carefully Athaliah was a powerful enemy and many had a vested interest in her corrupt reign

b The spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God These men were equipped with weapons dating from the days of King David It was fitting for these soldiers who would set the heir of Davidrsquos royal line back on the throne of Judah to use these weapons which had belonged to King David

c Then they brought out the kingrsquos son First the kingrsquos son had to be revealed o one could support him and he could not take his rightful throne until he was brought out before the people

d Put the crown on him ext the kingrsquos son had to be crowned This was the public and official recognition of him as king

e Gave him the Testimony The kingrsquos son had to come with the Word of God Joash appeared before the people holding the scrolls of Godrsquos Word

i Deuteronomy 1718 says that the king should have his own copy of the Scriptures ldquoThis is the basis for the British custom of presenting the monarch with a copy of the Bible during the coronation servicerdquo (Wiseman)

f And made him king The kingrsquos son had to be received He had the royal right to impose his reign but he instead allowed his rule to be received

g Anointed him The kingrsquos son could never fulfill his office without a divine anointing

h And said ldquoLong live the kingrdquo The kingrsquos son received praise once he was recognized as their king

i We can and should follow the same pattern in our reception of Jesus Christ the true kingrsquos son

ii ldquoIs not the spiritual condition of too many children of God represented by the condition of the Temple during the early years of the life of Joash The king was

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

within its precincts the rightful heir of the crown and defender of the worship of Jehovah but as a matter of fact the crown was on the head of the usurper Athaliah who was exercising a cruel and sanguinary tyranny The king was limited to a chamber and the majority of the priests with all the people had not even heard of his existence There needs to be an anointing an enthroning a determination that He shall exercise his power over the entire Temple of our Beingrdquo (Meyer)

PULPIT All Judah ie all those of Judahs provincial cities who had been honoured with summons to join in this great and solemn enterprise Dismissed not the courses ie the provincial Levites cooperated with the regulars of Jerusalem

9 Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God

ELLICOTT (9) MoreovermdashAnd This verse is essentially identical with 2 Kings 1110 ldquoAnd the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spear and the shields that had been king Davidrsquos which were in the house of Jehovahrdquo The chronicler has added Jehoiada and the bucklers and turned the spear into spears rightly according to most critics

Spears and bucklers and shieldsmdashEach word has the article in the Hebrew

That had been king DavidrsquosmdashComp 1 Chronicles 187 1 Chronicles 1811 also 1 Samuel 2210 1 Samuel 177

PARKER And he [Jehu] sought Ahaziah and they caught him (for he was hid [now he was hiding] in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu and when they had slain him they buried him Because said they he is the son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom [lit And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for kingship (= capable of assuming sovereignty)] ( 2 Chronicles 229)

Because Who can tell to what he is indebted for his advantages Who knows how the past helps the present Who can altogether analyse and Revelation -combine the

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

chemistry of life We may not exclude the action of sentiment from the processes of life The world would be poorer could all its tears be forgotten the flower looks the lovelier for the dew which besprinkles it So with life soldiers become greater men than ever when they begin to sigh because of some thought of other days and brighter times and cherished memories Men can hardly prepare themselves against the invasion of that gracious assailant Memory How the old village starts up again and the church spire and the little schoolhouse and home where childhood spent its sunny lot and what monitions and tender words and sacred charges to be men in lifes continual fray and the book that was given and the prayer that was offered and the touch that amounted to lay ordination how all these spectral lines combine reappear and Revelation -combine and shape themselves into church and temple and altar and house a singular form indicative of the mystery of lifes processes Think of a man owing a grave to his fathers memory Think of people putting themselves to the trouble of digging a grave in which to bury a hated corpse because the father was a religious Prayer of Manasseh who sought the Lord with all his heart Who knows what blessings he is receiving to-day because of something that happened half a century ago Yet men say What has the future done for us The future is doing everything for us Posterity is our unconscious benefactor Or What has the past done for us It has made the present The present is not an empty vessel it is a full goblet the past furnished your library made your house possible gave you peace bought your liberty with the gold of blood made it possible for you to sit still and sneer at heroic history Who has not received attention in some form or other because of what the father was or the mother We have been invited to hospitality because our father was kind to the poor prodigals have been able to borrow money on the strength of what the father was in the town to which the intended victim belonged Such is the action of life What is the great lesson to us It is to make friends of seven yea and to include an eighth in our benefactions for we cannot tell what shall be on the earth You are giving now your time strength money influence to good causes fifty years after some grandchild of yours may be blessed because of what you are doing this day You take notice of some poor child in the day-school you tell him that one day he will be a Prayer of Manasseh you give him some little coin valueless to you but the seed of a fortune to him he will never forget the kind word the generous Acts the pleasant look and mayhap when he has grown to be a giant he may help some descendant of yours across a thoroughfare or through a forest or over a difficult pass in life Lay up for yourselves riches where moth and dust doth not corrupt where thieves cannot break through and steal Be good generous true sympathetic and your grandchildren may come in for your blessing But if you are rough cynical heartless a perfect genius in sneering criticism God pity you and yours

PULPIT Shields hellip King Davids hellip in the house of God Some think these may have been the shields of gold that King David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 87 2 Samuel 811)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

10 He stationed all the men each with his weapon in his hand around the kingmdashnear the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple

ELLICOTT (10) And he set all the peoplemdash2 Kings 911 ldquoAnd the Couriers stoodrdquo By ldquothe peoplerdquo the chronicler obviously means not the mass of the congregation but the armed body who were to ldquocompass the king round about every man with his weapons in his handrdquo (2 Chronicles 237)

His weaponmdashOr his missiles arms LXX ὅπλο α (Comp 2 Chronicles 325) Kings has a commoner word The remainder of the verse is identical with its parallel

Along bymdashTowards the altar

PULPIT All the people ie again all those not being Levites and priests who had been trusted to assist The parallel (2 Chronicles 2311) summarizes them under the name the guard It may be just noted in passing that while the Hebrew text has in both places shoulder ie for the side of this verse and the corner of the parallel the Revised Version has harmonized the rendering electing the rendering side From the right side of the temple to the left side This is equivalent to saying those composing the guard were placed on the south and north sides Along by the altar This was the altar of burnt offerings in front of the perch and close by which the young king stood at his pillar or on his pedestal (2 Chronicles 2313) the rows of the guard bristling with weapons before and behind and round about him

11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the kingrsquos son and put the crown on him they presented him

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king They anointed him and shouted ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

JAMISO Then they brought out the kingrsquos son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdash Some think that the original word rendered ldquotestimonyrdquo as its derivation warrants may signify here the regalia especially the bracelet (2Sa_110) and this view they support on the ground that ldquogave himrdquo being supplemented the text properly runs thus ldquoput upon him the crown and testimonyrdquo At the same time it seems equally pertinent to take ldquothe testimonyrdquo in the usual acceptation of that term and accordingly many are of opinion that a roll containing a copy of the law (Deu_1718) was placed in the kingrsquos hands which he held as a scepter or truncheon Others referring to a custom of Oriental people who when receiving a letter or document from a highly respected quarter lift it up to their heads before opening it consider that Joash besides the crown had the book of the law laid upon his head (see Job_3135 Job_3136)

God save the kingmdash literally ldquoLong live the kingrdquo

KampD The coronation of Joash as in 2Ki_1112 The subject of ווציאו and ו)נו is those

present while in ווציא and ו)ן (Kings) Jehoiada as leader of the whole is referred to In

the Chronicle Jehoiada and his sons ie the high priest with the priests assisting him

are expressly named as subject to ימליכו and ומשצהו where in Kings also the plural is

used while on the contrary ldquothe clapping of the handsrdquo as a sign of joyful acclamation (Kings) is omitted as being unimportant

BESO 2 Chronicles 2311 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him mdash Among which sons was Zechariah whom he afterward most ungratefully slew

ELLICOTT (11) ThenmdashAnd So in 2 Chronicles 2314 2 Chronicles 2317

They brought out and putmdash2 Kings 1112 ldquohe (Jehoiada) brought out and putrdquo

Put upon him the crown and gave him the testimonymdashLiterally put upon him the crown (nccedilzer Exodus 296 2 Samuel 110) and the law (ha-rsquoecircducircth Exodus 2521-22 Exodus 3118) Was a scroll of the ten words wrapped round the diadem or laid on the kingrsquos shoulder (Comp Vulg ldquoimposuerunt ei diadema testimonium

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

dederuntque in manu ejus tenendam legemrdquo as if a copy of the law was solemnly presented to the newly-crowned king)

Jehoiada and his sonsmdashThe chronicler adds this to make it clear that it was the priests who anointed the king (Comp 1 Kings 139)

PULPIT Then they brought out The parallel (2 Chronicles 2312) has he brought out etc The last clause of our verse harmonizes even this simple point indicating that the they designates Jehoiada and his sons of which group Jehoiada himself was of course the greatest part It will be noted that it is not said from what exact place Joash was brought out Put upon him the crown and hellip the testimony It is quite unnecessary at any rate to suppose that the testimony as well as the crown was put on the head of Joash It may be taken for granted that the testimony was put into his hands (Deuteronomy 1718-20 Deuteronomy 3124-29) If something new and so out of the way as resting the testimony (ie the book of the Law) on the head were purported it is likely that a distincter point would have been made of it God save the king Hebrew fיחי המל Let the king live (1 Samuel 1024 2 Samuel 1616 1 Kings 125 1 Kings 131 1 Kings 134 1 Kings 139)

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king she went to them at the temple of the Lord

HERY 12-15 Here we have I The people pleased 2Ch_2312 2Ch_2313 When the king stood at his pillar whose right it was to stand there all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse Isa_111 When it seemed a withered root in a dry ground to see what they despaired of ever seeing - a king of the house of David what a pleasing surprise was it to them They ran in transports of joy to see this sight praised the king and praised God for they had with them such as taught to sing praise

II Athaliah slain She ran upon the point of the sword of justice for imagining her interest much better than it was she ventured into the house of the Lord at that time and cried Treason treason But nobody seconded her or sided with her The pride of her heart deceived her She thought all her own whereas none were cordially so Jehoiada as protector in the kings minority ordered her to be slain (2Ch_2314) which

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

was done immediately (2Ch_2315) only care was taken that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord that sacred place must not be so far disgraced nor that wicked woman so far honoured

JAMISO 2Ch_2312-15 Athaliah slain

Athaliah heard the noise of the peoplemdash The unusual commotion indicated by the blast of the trumpets and the vehement acclamations of the people drew her attention or excited her fears She might have flattered herself that having slain all the royal family she was in perfect security but it is just as likely that finding on reflection one had escaped her murderous hands she might not deem it expedient to institute any inquiries but the very idea would keep her constantly in a state of jealous suspicion and irritation In that state of mind the wicked usurper hearing across the Tyropoeon the outburst of popular joy rushed across the bridge to the temple grounds and penetrating from a single glance the meaning of the whole scene raised a shriek of ldquoTreasonrdquo

KampD 12-15 Slaughter of Athaliah as in 2Ki_1113-16 In 2Ch_2313 of the Chronicle the statement that the assembled people played on instruments is expanded by the addition ldquoand singing with instruments of song and proclaiming aloud to

praiserdquo ie and praising 2 ווצאCh_2314 is an orthographical error for ויצו (Kings)

ELLICOTT THE EXECUTIO OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 2312-21) (See 2 Kings 1113-20)

(12) ow when Athaliah she camemdashAnd Athaliah heard and she came

The noise of the people running and praising the kingmdashOr the noise of the people the Couriers and those who were acclaiming the king (1 Kings 1113 ldquothe noise of the runners the peoplerdquo where the people may be an inadvertent repetition as the same expression follows directly The rest of the verse is the same as here)

GUZIK B Athaliahrsquos demise

1 (2 Chronicles 2312-13) Her distress upon discovering the plot against her

ow when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people in the temple of the LORD When she looked there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise So Athaliah tore her clothes and said ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

a When she looked there was the king For the usurper queen mother this was a horrifying sight For six years she ruled because she believed there were no

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

legitimate claimants to the throne of David ow she sees that one son of Ahaziah ndashJoash her own grandson ndash escaped her murderous intent

b All the people of the land were rejoicing They were obviously weary of the wicked reign of Athaliah

c Treason Treason The charge was not unfounded This was treason against her government but it was a well-founded and godly treason against a tyrannical wicked ruler

PULPIT When Athaliah heard the noise The parallel (2 Kings 1113-16) shows only two differences of any noteworthiness and these will come under notice next verse The noise Hebrew the voice ie no doubt the voices of the people Praising The Hebrew is the piel participle our corresponding phrase would be singing out the praises of the king ie not any personal praises but such as the cries of Long live the king or as our Authorized Version has it God save the king I

13 She looked and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted ldquoTreason Treasonrdquo

BARES At the entering in - i e at or near the opening from the main chamber of the temple into the holy of holies

JAMISO behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering inmdash The kingrsquos pillar was in the peoplersquos court opposite that of the priestsrsquo The young king arrayed in the royal insignia had been brought out of the inner to stand forth in the outer court to the public view Some think that he stood on the brazen scaffold of Solomon erected beside the pillar [see on 2Ch_613]

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

BESO 2 Chronicles 2313 All the people rejoiced mdash To see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse To see what they despaired of ever seeing a king of the house of David

ELLICOTT (13) StoodmdashWas standing

At his pillarmdashOn his stand So 2 Kings 233 Kings here has ldquoon the standrdquo LXX ἐπὶ τῆς στάσεως αὐτοῦ Vulg ldquostantem super gradumrdquo

At the entering inmdashIn the entry LXX ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου Kings reads ldquoaccording to the customrdquo So the Syriac and Arabic here

And the princesmdashSee ote on 2 Kings 1114 Some Hebrew MSS here also read ldquosingersrdquo one MS has ldquoCouriersrdquo

RejoicedmdashWere rejoicing and sounding

Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praisemdashAnd the minstrels (or musicians) with the instruments of music and men leading the chanting (literally teaching to praise) This is one of the writerrsquos characteristic additions to the older text

SaidmdashKings ldquocriedrdquo which is more original

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 2313

At his pillar (see note on 2 Chronicles 2310) At the entering in The parallel (2 Kings 1114) has as the manner was ( כמשפט vice במבוא) The reading in the parallel is quite explainable by such references as 2 Kings 233 2 Chronicles 3431) Such as taught Piel participle of ידע the meaning here probably being not literally the teaching confraternity as such but the leaders and in particular those who were appointed on this occasion to lead Treason קשר interesting references are 2 Samuel 1512 1 Kings 1620 Isaiah 812 Jeremiah 119 Ezekiel 2225 The idea of the word is conspiracy and Athaliahs eye read this at once and not less promptly that it amounted to treason to her

14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops and said to them ldquoBring her out between the ranks[b] and put to the sword anyone who follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not put her to death at the temple of the Lordrdquo

CLARKE And whoso followeth her let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part or endeavors to prevent the present revolution let him be immediately slain

JAMISO 14-15 Slay her not in the house of the Lord and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the kingrsquos house they slew her theremdash The high priest ordered her immediately to be taken out of the temple grounds and put to death ldquoAnd they laid hands on her and she went by the way by the which horses came into the kingrsquos house and there was she slainrdquo (2Ki_1116) ldquoNow we are not to suppose that horses came into [the kingrsquos house] of residence but into the kingrsquos (horsesrsquo) house or hippodrome (the gate of the kingrsquos mules) [Josephus] he had built for them on the southeast of the temple in the immediate vicinity of the horse gate in the valley of Kedron - a valley which was at that time a kind of desecrated place by the destruction of idols and their appurtenancesrdquo (2Ki_232 2Ki_236 2Ki_2312) [Barclay City of the Great King]

ELLICOTT (14) ThenmdashAnd This verse is the same as 2 Kings 1115 with a few formal variations

Brought outmdashKings ldquocommandedrdquo The Heb words are so nearly alike that one may easily be a corruption of the other The Syriac and Arabic agree with Kings The LXX gives both readings

Have her forth of the rangesmdashMake her go out between the ranks of guards

Let him be slainmdashAn explanation of the form used in Kings (the infinitive)

Slay her notmdashYe must not slay her Kings ldquoLet her not be slainrdquo So the Syriac here

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2314-15) She and her supporters are executed

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them ldquoTake her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows herrdquo For the priest had said ldquoDo not kill her in the house of the LORDrdquo So they seized her and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the kingrsquos house and they killed her there

a Take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her This was both righteous and prudent It was a just sentence against this woman who had murdered so many and prudent precautions were taken so she could not mount a resistance

b Do not kill her in the house of the LORD As a priest Jehoiada had a great concern for the sanctity and reputation of the temple Yet in the place where horses entered they killed her there

i ldquoHer own treason against the true and abiding King of the nation was defeated Thus sooner or later and in ways equally dramatic the moment arrives when those who plot and plan against Heaven and righteousness find themselves looking at the evidences of the triumph of God and of goodness over all their wickednessrdquo (Morgan)

PULPIT Brought out ויוצא for commanded in the parallel ויחו and this is probably right the Hebrew in our text probably a clerical or copyists error The ranges שדרות This word is found only in three other places viz twice in the parallel (its 2 Chronicles 238 2 Chronicles 2315) Revised Version ranks and in 1 Kings 69 where it is rendered in the Authorized Version the boards but in the Revised Version the planks and margin rows The ranges are commonly supposed to mean the ranks or rows of soldiers The Vulgate has understood them to mean the precincts of the temple The indications of the remarkable but not uncommon prepositional expression אל־מבית (enjoying the analogy of ether compounded prepositional expressions as אל־מחוץ אל־מגגן) favours the idea that Jehoiada said Have her forth from inside the house of the Lord (1 Kings 612) to within your ranks and there take care to make a way for her no one with immature zeal following to slay her there at the jeopardy of his own life for under no case let her be slain in the house of the Lord

15 So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds and there they put her to death

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

ELLICOTT (15) So they laid hands on hermdashRather And they made way for her on both sides LXX καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῇ ἄνεσιν Syriac ldquoAnd they made room for herrdquo

To the entering of the horse gatemdashKings reads ldquoAnd she went by the way of the entry of the horses into the kingrsquos houserdquo Syriac ldquoAnd she entered into the way of the entry of the horses and was killed thererdquo

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he the people and the king[c] would be the Lordrsquos people

BARES Between him - In 2Ki_1117 the covenant is said to have been made ldquobetween the Lordrdquo etc To the writer of Chronicles Jehoiada was Godrsquos representative and received the pledges of king and people

CLARKE Made a covenant between him - The high priest was on this occasion the representative of God whom both the people and the king must have had in view through the medium of his priest

HERY III The original contract agreed to 2Ch_2316 In the Kings it is said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord the people and the king 2Ki_1117 Here it is said to be between himself the people and the king for he as Gods priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was The indenture was tripartite but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they should be the Lords people God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for his people the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lords people in his fear and for his sake Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the Lords people and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the discharge of all our duty both to God and man

JAMISO 2Ch_2316 Jehoiada restores the worship of God and settles the king

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

Jehoiada made a covenantmdash (See on 2Ki_1117)

KampD 16-21 The renewal of the covenant extirpation of Baal-worship and the solemn entry of the king into his palace as in 2Ki_1117-20 and already commented on in that place The remark as to the renewal of the covenant is in 2Ch_2316 (Chron)

somewhat more brief than in 2Ki_1117 and ינו between himself the same as between

himself the high priest as representative of Jehovah In 2Ki_1117 the matter is more clearly expressed In 2Ki_1118 the statement ldquothe priest set overseers over the house of Jahverdquo is expanded by the addition of the words ldquoby means of the Levitic priests whom David had distributed for the house of Jahve to offer sacrificesand he placed doorkeepers at the doors of the house of Jahverdquo etc The meaning is Jehoiada again introduced the old arrangement of the public worship in the temple as David had settled it it having either fallen into decay or wholly ceased under the rule of the idolatrous Athaliah As to the remainder see on 2Ki_1119 and 2Ki_1120

BESO 2 Chronicles 2316 Jehoiada made a covenant between him ampc mdash In 2 Kings 1117 it is said Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people Here it is said to be made between him the people and the king But the two passages do not contradict each other For Jehoiada as Godrsquos priest was his representative in this transaction or a sort of mediator as Moses was God covenanted by him to take them for his people and the king and people covenanted with him to be his and then the king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lordrsquos people in his fear and for his sake For it must be observed that this covenant and others made in like manner were solemn promises on the part of the Jewish king and people that for the future they would observe Godrsquos laws in return to which the high-priest promised on the part of God that if they did so they should enjoy all the blessings promised in those divine laws to obedience

ELLICOTT REEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVEAT AD ABOLITIO OF BAAL-WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 2316-21)

(16) A covenant between the kingmdashA slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 1117 ldquothe covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they should become a people for Jehovahrdquo

Between himmdashOr rather himself The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided

Be the Lordrsquos peoplemdashLiterally become a people for Jehovah Kings adds ldquoand between the king and the peoplerdquo a not unimportant clause for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative which were usually agreed upon at the

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 321 2 Samuel 53 1 Samuel 1025)

GUZIK C The reforms of Jehoiada the priest

1 (2 Chronicles 2316-17) Jehoiada makes a covenant

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself the people and the king that they should be the Lordrsquos people And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They broke in pieces its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars

a A covenant between himself the people and the king This shows that God intends that both kings and citizens have mutual obligations towards the other either have absolute rights over or against the other

i ldquoAlong with Jehoiadarsquos political revolution came a corresponding religious revival ndash that king priest and citizenry would together lsquobe the LORDrsquos peoplersquordquo (Payne)

ii ldquoThe climax is not Joashrsquos coronation but a covenant renewing the nationrsquos relationship with Godrdquo (Selman)

b That they should be the Lordrsquos people The covenant was between the LORD and the king and the people They re-committed themselves to honor obey and serve God

c And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down In 2 Kings 10 Jehu supervised the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria Here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed and appropriately destroyed by the people

i They didnrsquot stop at destroying the building itself they went on to destroy both the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and to kill Mattan the priest of Baal ldquoThe execution of lsquoMattan the priest of Baalrsquo carried out the requirement of Godrsquos Word directed against those who should lead others into false religion (Deuteronomy 135-10)rdquo (Payne)

PULPIT The house of Baal It becomes plain that some building had been actually reared alongside so to say of the very temple itself for Baal Slew Mattan (Deuteronomy 136 Deuteronomy 139) Brake hellip his images Hebrew צלמיו this is the more pronounced word distinguished from בות מח

HAWKER 16-21 There is a beautiful order in the account here given The first object of reform is to show that God graciously looks upon his people and remembers his covenant The covenant that is said to be made is between him and between all the people and between the king Him means no doubt the Lord and Jehoiada as his priest might be supposed to represent him Sweetly suggesting to us Jesus our glorious Head and Mediator whom Jehoiada typified Hence what a beautiful portion of gospel

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

comes in in the midst of this history And where we expected to find nothing but a simple narrative concerning Judah here we find a lovely shadow of the Lord Jesus The next object in this revolution of Judah is the destruction of Baal and his images When the hearts of the people are turned back again to the Lord then immediately follows the destruction of idolatry Reader how precious a part of our holy faith is it when we so love the Lord as to hate his enemies David makes this the subject of appeal in proof of his sincerity Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Psa_13921 The third step in the reform of Judah is the arrangement of the temple service During the usurpation and tyranny of Athaliah all had gone to disorder But now the Lord shall be again worshipped in the beauty of holiness And lastly all the departments of government were brought into regularity and order So that when God is honored in his house of prayer and true religion prevails through the land all ranks of the people are made happy there is no leading into captivity no complaining in the streets Well might the Psalmist in the view of such a nation cry out Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psa_14415

17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars

CLARKE Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest but

calls him כומרא cumera priestling

HERY IV Baal destroyed 2Ch_2317 They would not have done half their work if they had only destroyed the usurper of the kings right and not the usurper of Godsright - if they had asserted the honour of the throne and not that of the altar The greatest grievance of Athaliahs reign was the bringing in of the worship of Baal and supporting of that therefore that must be abolished in the first place Down with Baals house his altars his images down with them all and let the blood of his priests be mingled with his sacrifices for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put to death Deu_135 Deu_136

ELLICOTT (17) Brake it downmdashPulled it down

And brakemdashAnd its altars ampc they broke in pieces Kings adds ldquothoroughlyrdquo

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

(See 2 Kings 1118)

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests to whom David had made assignments in the temple to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and singing as David had ordered

BARES The priests the Levites - Rather with the versions ldquothe priests and the Levitesrdquo It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings Num_181-7 and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music 1Ch_235 1Ch_251-7

HERY 18-19 V The temple service revived 2Ch_2318 2Ch_2319 This had been neglected in the last reigns the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it up when they had princes that were disaffected to it But Jehoiada restored the offices of the house of the Lord which in the late times had been disturbed and invaded to the proper course and proper hands 1 He appointed the priests to their courses for the due offering of sacrifices according to the law of Moses 2 The singers to theirs according to the appointment of David The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and singing and with good reason We joy in God when we receive the atonement Rom_511 3 The porters were put in their respective posts as David ordered (2Ch_2319) and their office was to take care that none who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the courts of the temple

BESO 2 Chronicles 2318 Jehoiada appointed the offices ampc mdash Or rather restored for there was no new appointment of offices or officers but the old officers were restored to their respective offices The Hebrew literally translated is He put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests ampc For in the time of the idolatrous kings and of Athaliah those offices had probably been disposed of to persons of other tribes partly to gratify their wicked friends and partly to bring Godrsquos house and worship into disgrace

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

COKE 2 Chronicles 2318 Of the priests the Levitesmdash Of the priests and of the Levites Houbigant

REFLECTIOSmdash1st Six years the usurped dominion of Athaliah lasted but by the prudence and courage of Jehoiada she is hurled from her bloody throne and the rightful heir restored 2 Kings 114

2nd Athaliahs impotent attempt hastens her ruin the people were too tired of her government to afford her any assistance she fell therefore a just sacrifice to the manes of her murdered family Joy and gladness now spread through the land the king and people by Jehoiada as mediator renew their covenant with God and each other and as the first fruits of their zeal Baals hated worship is destroyed and regularity and order restored to the house of God Thus was this happy revolution effected so prosperously and speedily and once more the seed of David possessed in peace the throne of their ancestors ote (1) The throne of David shall never be vacant one king for ever reigns upon it whom none of his enemies can gainsay or resist happy they who are spiritually the subjects of his government (2) Let kings consider the maintenance of Gods holy religion and virtue as the great stability of their crown

ELLICOTT (18) Also Jehoiada appointedmdashThis and the next verse are a thoroughly characteristic expansion of the brief notice ldquoAnd the priest set officers over the house of the Lordrdquo (Kings) Render ldquoAnd Jehoiada put the offices of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests the Levitesrdquo Syriac ldquoAnd Jehoiada made prefects (shallicirctocircnecirc) in the house of the Lord and the priests and Levitesrdquo The LXX renders ldquoAnd Jehoiada the priest took in hand the works of the house of the Lord by the hand of priests and Levitesrdquo

Whom David had distributedmdashDivided into courses or classes (1 Chronicles 236 1 Chronicles 2324-25)

In the housemdashFor the house

As it is writtenmdashA reference to the Pentateuch (Comp Ezra 32)

With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by DavidmdashSee the margin and comp the otes on 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 256 1 Chronicles 235

The meaning of all this is that the high priest now restored the regular services of the Temple as arranged by David which had been neglected or at least irregularly conducted during the six years of Athaliahrsquos usurpation

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 2318-21) Jehoiada restores the proper plans of worship and service

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as it is written in the Law of Moses with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter Then he took the captains of hundreds the nobles the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the LORD and they went through the Upper Gate to the kingrsquos house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had slain Athaliah with the sword

a Whom David had assigned as it is written in the Law of Moses The priest Jehoiada was careful to reinstitute these practices and customs according to Biblical patterns based on what God had revealed to David and Moses

i So that no one who was in any way unclean should enter ldquoOh that we also had store of such porters to keep out the unclean from holy ordinancesrdquo (Trapp)

b And set the king on the throne of the kingdom After more than six dark years now the rightful king of Judah once again ruled over his grateful people o wonder the people of the land rejoiced

i ldquoThe peoplersquos rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 2027) That the city was quiet was a sign of Godrsquos blessing which often followed special acts of faith and obedience (cf 1 Chronicles 440 1Ch_229 2 Chronicles 1323 2 Chronicles 144-5 2 Chronicles 2030)rdquo (Selman)

PULPIT Jehoiada appointed ie reappointed or restored The offices פקדות umbers 332 umbers 336 umbers 416 umbers 1629 1 Chronicles 2311 1 Chronicles 243 1 Chronicles 2419 1 Chronicles 2630 2 Chronicles 1714 2 Chronicles 2318 2 Chronicles 2411 2 Chronicles 2611 see also Psalms 1098 Isaiah 103 (comp Job 1012) The priests There should no doubt be found the conjunction and after this word and before the Levites whom David had distributed (so 1 Chronicles 241-19 1 Chronicles 258-31) In the Law of Moses (umbers 181-7 382) With rejoicing hellip singing hellip David (1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 251 1 Chronicles 252 1 Chronicles 255-7 and our 2 Chronicles 2925-30)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

19 He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lordrsquos temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter

ELLICOTT (19) And he setmdashStationed or appointed

At the gatesmdashOr over the gates (See 1 Chronicles 235 1 Chronicles 261-19)

That none which was unclean should entermdashComp 2 Chronicles 236 and Leviticus 57 umbers 519 Deuteronomy 241-3 Deuteronomy 2410-11

20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds the nobles the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the Lord They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne

HERY VI The civil government re-established 2Ch_2320 They brought the king in state to his own palace and set him upon the throne of the kingdom to give law and give judgment either in his own person or by Jehoiada his tutor Thus was this happy revolution perfected The generality of the people rejoiced in it and the rest were quiet and made no opposition 2Ch_2321 When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy are opened

ELLICOTT (20) And he tookmdashSee 2 Kings 1119

The nobles and the governors of the peoplemdashKings has ldquoAnd the Carians and the

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

Couriersrdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 231)

The noblesmdashComp Psalms 163

Governors of the peoplemdashComp Isaiah 2814 These ldquonobles and governorsrdquo are perhaps ldquothe heads of the clansrdquo of 2 Chronicles 232 and ldquothe princes of 2 Chronicles 2313 though the phrase certainly looks like an attempt at explaining the obscure titles of the royal guard

And they came through the high gatemdashKings ldquoAnd they came by the way of the Couriersrsquo Gaterdquo (See ote on 2 Chronicles 235 supra) The Couriersrsquo Gate may have been called the High Gate as being the grand entrance to the palace A gate of the Temple has the same designation in 2 Chronicles 273

PULPIT The high gate There is some doubt as to what this gate was whether the temple gate of 2 Chronicles 273 the chief gate of the outer court or whether it was merely a palace gate and not identified also with the precincts of the temple It is called in the parallel the gate of the guard

21 All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Athaliah had been slain with the sword

CLARKE The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution Concerning the coronation of Joash there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on 2Ch_2311 it is as follows - ldquoAnd they brought forth the son of the king and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon In it was inserted the precious attracting stone in which was

engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed

there by the Holy Spirit and it was of the weight of a talent of gold it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head nor be able to bear its weight When therefore the people saw it placed on the head of Joash and that he was able to bear this crown they believed him to be of the seed of David and immediately constituted him king Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said May the king be prosperous in his kingdomrdquo

The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites and that it was

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah See Jarchi on this place

BESO 2 Chronicles 2321 All the people rejoiced and the city was quiet mdashThe generality of the people rejoiced the rest were quiet and made no opposition When the son of David is enthroned in the soul all therein is quiet and springs of joy are opened

PARKER Athaliah must have her fate and it shall be appropriate The Bible does not shrink from stating the whole case in its reality

And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword ( 2 Chronicles 2321)

Blessed be God for the sword when it is wielded by the hands of justice and virtue People will not endure beyond a given point Every queen is the subject of her own people The nation may have a solitary monarch but the monarch has a multitudinous sovereign This woman ruled amongst the people viciously selfishly without regard to patriotic instinct or patriotic right and having filled the cup of her wickedness the people arose and Athaliah was slain with the sword and then all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet This is hard reading We must read it because we wish to know the whole contents of the Bible otherwise we would willingly have brought all these pages together torn them out with a violent hand and forgotten the story But the Bible must be revered for its fearlessless for a frankness that keeps back nothing it is a book that is not afraid to show human nature to itself and that so reveals human nature to itself as to prove that it comprehends it and cannot be deceived by the most cunning attempt at deception The land rejoiced when a woman was slain What the land then must have endured whilst she lived and ruled The joy after death is the measure of sorrow before it And the city was quiet after a woman was slain How much mischief can be wrought by one soul One sinner destroyeth much good When the ruler goes wrong the nation will either go wrong after him or will stand up in self-defence and under a consciousness of true dignity and under a sense of what is due to God will revenge the wrong redeem and reclaim that which is past Here again how beautifully might the text have readmdashAnd all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet because Athaliah was recovered spared continued in high office and influence Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness than by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively

Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

explanation is given in chapter 2 Chronicles 247mdashthat wicked woman This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame Wicked womanmdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but wicked woman indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word is found in the contextmdashthat wicked woman

Was there no brightness in all this history There is indeed one quiet line But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died And they buried him in the city of David mdashwe have already seen one king buried theremdashamong the kings Thus he had a double blessing of sepulture Was it because he was royal o Because he was mighty in war o Because he was sagacious in policy o Why then this double honour Why this accumulating benediction Hear the sweet wordsmdashBecause he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house Then lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and let the saint pass in He seems to be a native of the skies

BI And the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword

A wicked woman

Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief Questions such as these penetrating unsparing we should thrust into ourselves that they may work first painfully and then curatively Is there no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah The explanation is given in 2Ch_247 mdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame ldquoWicked womanrdquomdashit is impossible It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation say dark sun say waterless sea say flowerless summer and the irony might be tolerated for it might be only a discord in words but ldquowicked womanrdquo indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster Athaliah was slain with the swordmdashcry Murder then Arrest the homicide the regicide But wait you know not all the explanatory word found in the contextmdashldquothat wicked womanrdquo (J Parker DD)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 236 Or are to stand guard where the Lord has assigned them2 Chronicles 2314 Or out from the precincts2 Chronicles 2316 Or covenant between the Lord and the people and the king that they (see 2 Kings 1117)