The Second Book of the Chronicles
2 Chronicles 23
Chapter XXIII · Vol. II, pp. 870–871
1 Jehoiada, having taken measures for his security, maketh Joash king. 12 Athaliah is slain. 16 Jehoiada restoreth the worship of God.
1 And ina the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into bcovenant with him.
2 And they cwent about in Judah, and gathered the Levites1 out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.
c Ps.112.5. Mat.10.16. Ep.5.15.
1 It is important to observe here, as in other places, the loyalty of the Levites. It is somewhat remarkable that no mention is made of them in the parallel passage in 2 Ki. 11. 4. Perhaps in the latter passage they are included in the guard of the temple.—P.
3 And all the congregation2 maded a covenant with the king in the house of God: and he said unto them, Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the LORD hath esaid of the sons of David.
4 This is the thing that ye shall do: A thirdf part of you entering on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites,3 shall be porters of the doors;
f 2 Ki.11.5,6. 1 Ch.26.13-18; 9.25.
3 The Levites had their turns or courses in the service of the temple; so that a certain number went out every Sabbath, to make room for another course. Jehoiada, having gained over the centurions and guards, or at least some of them, to his party, and having all the Levites at his command, took occasion at that time when the courses were to be changed, at daybreak, to arm both those that were coming out and those who were coming in; and thus effected the revolution he had so wisely planned.—J.
5 And a third part shall be at the king's house;4 and a third part at the ggate of the foundation:5 and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD.
4 His residence within the temple. C.——This means, as I suppose, the grand entrance from the palace on Zion to the temple court. A splendid bridge was thrown across the ravine of Tyropoeon and connected the two. See note on 1 Ki.10.5.—P.
5 The chief entrance of the temple, the emblem of Christ, at once the 'foundation' and the 'gate,' 1 Co.3.11. Jn.10.9.—C.
6 But let none come into the house of the LORD, save the priests, and hthey that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they are holy:i but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD.6
7 And kthe Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever else lcometh into the house, he shall be put to death: but be ye with the king when he cometh in, and when he goeth out.
8 So the Levites, and all Judah, did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took every man his men mthat were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go out on the sabbath: for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not nthe courses.7
m 1 Ch.9.25. 2 Ki.11.7,9.
n 1 Ch.xxiv.-xxvi. So two courses of priests, singers, and porters were in the court of the temple together.
7 He detained the outgoing party, whose course of service was completed; that so he might have at hand a double body-guard for the king.—C.
9 Moreover, Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David's, which were in the house of God.8
8 Arms that had been deposited in the temple by David as trophies of his victories, as was the case with the sword of Goliath, 1 Sa. 21. 9.—C.
10 And he set all the people, oevery man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side9 of the temple1 to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about.
11 Then they pbrought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and qgave him the testimony,2 and made him king: and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, rGod save the king.
q De.17.18. Ps.2.10-12. Is.49.24.
2 The words gave him are supplied by the translators; put on seems the proper expression; and consequently, instead of testimony, it should be some part of the royal dress corresponding to the crown, perhaps the bracelet. See 2 Sa. 1. 10.—C.
r Heb. Let the king live, 1 Ki.1.39.
12 Now, swhen Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the LORD:
13 And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at this pillar3 at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, uand sounded with trumpets; also the singers with instruments of music, and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, xTreason, treason!
t 2 Ki.23.3. ch.6.13; 11.14.
3 Standing by a pillar seems to have been a favourite position with the kings of Israel, most probably as emblematic of stability and support, 2 Ki. 11. 14. C.——Or, 'on the tribunal,' as Boothroyd renders, who thinks this was the sort of rostrum erected by Solomon, mentioned ch.6.13.—J.
u Pr.11.10; 29.2. Re.19.1,2; 11.15; 14.1-4.
x 1 Ki.18.17,18. Mat.7.5. Ro.2.1,3.
14 Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds that were set over the host, and said unto them, Have her forth of the ranges;4 and ywhoso followeth her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest said, zSlay her not in the house of the LORD.
4 From the ranks into which the guard was arranged (ver. 10), and within which none but the priests and Levites might come upon pain of death, ver.6,7. C.——The ranges mean the walls or buildings round the temple.—J.
y Re.14.9,10; 19.20.
15 So they laid hands on her; and when she was come to the entering of the horse-gate5 by the king's house, they slew aher there.6
5 Professor Robinson has an investigation into the probable position of the ancient gates of Jerusalem in his Biblical Researches in Palestine, vol. i. p. 472. The notices respecting most of them, he thinks, are too indefinite to enable us to determine anything more than that some of them probably did not belong to the external city wall. Thus the horse-gate, says he, evidently lay between the temple and the royal palace, and in proof of this he refers to the present passage.—J.
a ch.22.10. Mat.7.2. Ge.9.5,6.
6 She was justly condemned as a murderer, ch.22.10.—C.
16 And Jehoiada bmade a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the LORD's people.
b 2 Ki.11.17. Ne.9.38. De.5.2,3; 29.1,14,15. Jos.24.25. ch.15.12; 29.10. Ezr.10.3.
17 Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and cbrake it down, and brake his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.
A.M. 3126. B.C. 878.
c 2 Ki.10.23; 11.18. De.13.9. 1 Ki.18.40. Ca.2.15. Zec.13.3. Re.19.20.
18 Also Jehoiada appointed dthe offices of the house of the LORD by the hand of the priests the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the LORD, to offer the burnt-offerings of the eLORD, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was ordained by David.7
19 And he set the fporters at the gates of the house of the LORD, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.8
f 1 Ch.26.14-18; 9.23,24.
8 The emblem of that godly discipline which the office-bearers of the church are appointed to administer and enforce.—C.
20 Andg he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king9 from the house of the LORD: and they came through the high gate into the king's house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.
g 2 Ki.11.19.
9 The Targum says that the crown put on Joash was that which David took from the king of the Ammonites, in which was the precious attracting stone that had engraven on it the great and honourable Name (Jehovah).—I.
Notes
Reflections.—God will not suffer the fulfilment of his promise to be too long interrupted. And it is a great mercy in critical times to have one of great prudence, piety, fidelity, courage, and influence to be principal director. How astonishing is it to see religion and liberty all at once recovered from the wrecks of ruin. But is there anything too hard for the Lord? How mad for their opposers to rush headlong into immediate destruction! But hopeful is the view when idols are destroyed, idolaters ashamed, the true worship of God regularly established, and his worshippers first giving themselves to the Lord, and afterwards to magistrates and ministers, and to one another, by the will of God!