2 Chronicles 23:3

2Chr 23:12-15. He makes the people enter into a covenant, that they would serve the Lord, 2Chr 23:16. The people break down the temple of Baal, and slay Mattan his priest, 2Chr 23:17. Jehoiada makes several alterations, and remodels the kingdom, 2Chr 23:18-21. Verse 1 And in the seventh year - See on 2Kgs 11:4 (note), etc. Verse 9 Spears and bucklers - See on 2Kgs 11:10 (note). Verse 11 God save the king - May the king live! See on 2Kgs 11:12 (note). Verse 14 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. Verse 15 Of the horse-gate - See on 2Kgs 11:16 (note). Verse 16 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. Verse 17 Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest, but calls him כומרא cumera, priestling. Verse 21 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 2Chr 23:11, it is as follows: - "And 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 kingdom!" 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. Introduction Joash begins to reign when seven years old, and reigns well all the days of Jehoiada the priest, 2Chr 24:1-3. He purposes to

Preparations to Restore Judah. ( b. c. 878.) 1 And in 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 covenant with him. 2 And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3 And all the congregation made 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 said of the sons of David. 4 This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you entering on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be porters of the doors; 5 And a third part shall be at the king's house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation: and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord . 6 But let none come into the house of the Lord , save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they are holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord . 7 And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever else cometh 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 that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go out on the sabbath: for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses. 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. 10 And he set all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about. 11 Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king. We may well imagine the bad posture of affairs in Jerusalem during Athaliah's 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 David's seed and throne was what God had sworn by his holiness ( Ps. lxxxix. 35 ), 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, v. 1 . The Levites and the chief of the fathers of Israel came at his call to Jerusalem ( v. 2 ) 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 ( v. 8 ), 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, Eccl. ix. 17 . 3. A man of great faith. It was not only common equity (much less his wife's 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 ( v. 3 ): The king's 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, v. 6, 7 . 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, v. 11 . 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 ( ch. xxiv. 20 ), which was so much the more ungrateful because he bore a willing part in anointing him.