2 Kings 11:12

emple, shows them the kings son, takes an oath of them, arms them, places guards around the temple, and around the young king's person; they anoint and proclaim him, 2Kgs 11:4-12 . Athaliah is alarmed, comes into the temple, is seized, carried forth, and slain, 2Kgs 11:13-16 . Jehoiada causes the people to enter into a covenant with the Lord; they destroy Baal's house, priest, and images, 2Kgs 11:17 , 2Kgs 11:18 . Joash is brought to the king's house, reigns, and all the land rejoices, 2Kgs 11:19-21 . Verse 1 Athaliah - This woman was the daughter of Ahab, and grand-daughter of Omri, and wife of Joram king of Judah, and mother of Ahaziah. Destroyed all the seed royal - All that she could lay her hands on whom Jehu had left; in order that she might get undisturbed possession of the kingdom. How dreadful is the lust of reigning! it destroys all the charities of life; and turns fathers, mothers, brothers, and children, into the most ferocious savages! Who, that has it in his power, makes any conscience "To swim to sovereign rule through seas of blood?" In what a dreadful state is that land that is exposed to political revolutions, and where the succession to the throne is not most positively settled by the clearest and most decisive law! Reader, beware of revolutions; there have been some useful ones, but they are in general the heaviest curse of God. Verse 2 Daughter of - Joram, sister of Ahaziah - It is not likely that Jehosheba was the daughter of Athaliah; she was sister, we find, to Ahaziah the son of Athaliah, but probably by a different mother. The mother of Jehoash was Zibiah of Beer-sheba; see 2Kgs 12:1 . Verse 3 He was - hid in the house of the Lord - This might be readily done, because none had access to the temple but the priests; and the high priest himself was the chief manager of this business. Verse 4 And the seventh year Jehoiada sent - He had certainly sounded them all, and brought them into the interests of the young king, before this time; the plot having been laid, and now ripe for execution, he brings the chief officers of the army and those of the body guard into the temple, and there binds them by an oath of secrecy, and shows them the king's son, in whose behalf they are to rise. Verse 5 That enter in on the Sabbath - It appears that Jehoiada chose the Sabbath day to proclaim the young king, because as that was a day of public concourse, the gathering together of the people who were in this secret would not be noticed; and it is likely that they all came unarmed, and were supplied by Jehoiada with the spears and shields which David had laid up in the temple, 2Kgs 11:10 . The priests and Levites were divided into twenty-four classes by David, and each served a week by turns in the temple, and it was on the Sabbath that they began the weekly service, all this favored Jehoiada's design. Verse 10 King David's spears and shields - Josephus expressly says that David had provided an arsenal for the temple, out of which Jehoiada took those arms. His words are; Ανοιξας δε Ιωαδος την εν τῳ ἱερῳ ὁπλοθηκην, ἡν Δαβιδης κατεσκευασε, διεμερισε τοις ἑκατονταρχαις ἁμα και ἱεροισι και Λευιταις ἁπανθ' ὁσα εὑρεν εν αυτῃ δορατα τε και φαρετρας, και ει τι ἑτερον ειδος ὁπλου κατελαβε. "And Jehoiada having opened the arsenal in the temple, which David had prepared, he divided among the centurions, priests, and Levites, the spears, (arrows), and quivers, and all other kinds of weapons which he found there." - Ant. lib. ix., c. 7, s. 8. Verse 12 Put the crown upon him - This was a diadem or golden band that went round the head. And - the testimony - Probably the book of the law, written on a roll of vellum. This was his scepter. Some think that it was placed upon his head, as well as the diadem. The diadem, the testimony, and the anointing oil, were essential to his consecration. They clapped their hands - This I believe is the first instance on record of clapping the hands as a testimony of joy. God save the king - יחי המלך yechi hannmelech; May the king live! So the words should be translated wherever they occur. Verse 14 The king stood by a pillar - Stood On a pillar or tribunal; the place or throne on which they were accustomed to put the kings when they proclaimed them. Treason, Treason - קשר קשר kesher, kasher; A conspiracy, A conspiracy! from kashar, to bind, unite together. Verse 15 Have her forth - She had pressed in among the guards into the temple. And him that followeth - The person who takes her part, let him instantly be slain. Verse 16 By the way - which the horses came - They probably brought her out near the king's stables. It has been supposed, from Eze 46:1 , Eze 46:2 , that the east gate of the inner court was that by which the king entered on the Sabbath day, whereas on all other days he entered by the south gate. And there was another gate, called the horse gate, in the wall of the city, ( Jer 31:40 ), for the king's horses to go out at from the stables at Millo, which is therefore called, 2Chr 23:15 , the horse gate toward the king's house. Verse 17 Jehoiada made a covenant - A general covenant was first made between the Lord, the Supreme King, the king his viceroy, and the people, that they should all be the Lord's people; each being equally bound to live according to the Divine law. Then, secondly, a particular covenant was made between the king and the people, by which the king was bound to rule according to the laws and constitution of the kingdom, and to watch and live for the safety of the public. And the people were bound on their part, to love, honor, succor, and obey the king. Where these mutual and just agreements are made and maintained, there can be nothing else than prosperity in the Church and the state. Verse 18 His altars and images brake they in pieces - It is probable that Athaliah had set up the worship of Baal in Judah, as Jezebel had done in Israel; or probably it had never been removed since the days of Solomon. It was no wonder that Jehoiada began his reform with this act, when we learn from 2Chr 24:7 , that the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon Baalim. Verse 20 The people - rejoiced - They were glad to get rid of the tyranny of Athaliah. And the city was in quiet - She had no partisans to rise up and disturb the king's reign. Verse 21 Seven years old was Jehoash - The first instance on record of making a child seven years old the king of any nation, and especially of such a nation as the Jews, who were at all times very difficult to be governed. Introduction Jehoash reigns well under the instructions of Jehoiada the priest, 2Kgs 12:1-3 . He directs the repairing of the temple; the account of what was done, 2Kgs 12:4-16 . Hazael takes Gath; and, proceeding to besiege Jerusalem, is prevented by Jehoash, who gives him all the treasures and hallowed things of the house of the Lord, 2Kgs 12:17 , 2Kgs 12:18 . The serv

ent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the Lord , and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the Lord , and showed them the king's son. 5 And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you that enter in on the sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king's house; 6 And a third part shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down. 7 And two parts of all you that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord about the king. 8 And ye shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand: and he that cometh within the ranges, let him be slain: and be ye with the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in. 9 And the captains over the hundreds did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they took every man his men that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that should go out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of the Lord . 11 And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple. 12 And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king. Six years Athaliah tyrannised. We have not a particular account of her reign; no doubt it was of a piece with the beginning. While Jehu was extirpating the worship of Baal in Israel, she was establishing it in Judah, as appears, 2 Chron. xxiv. 7 . The court and kingdom of Judah had been debauched by their alliance with the house of Ahab, and now one of that house is a curse and a plague to both: sinful friendships speed no better. All this while, Joash lay hid, entitled to a crown and intended for it, and yet buried alive in obscurity. Though the sons and heirs of heaven are now hidden, the world knows them not ( 1 John iii. 1 ), yet the time is fixed when they shall appear in glory, as Joash in his seventh year; by that time he was ready to be shown, not a babe, but, having served his first apprenticeship to life and arrived at his first climacterical year, he had taken a good step towards manhood; by that time the people had grown weary of Athaliah's tyranny and ripe for a revolution. How that revolution was effected we are here told. I. The manager of this great affair was Jehoiada the priest, probably the high priest, or at least the sagan (as the Jews called him) or suffragan to the high priest. By his birth and office he was a man in authority, whom the people were bound by the law to observe and obey, especially when there was no rightful king upon the throne, Deut. xvii. 12 . By marriage he was allied to the royal family, and, if all the seed-royal were destroyed, his wife, as daughter to Joram, had a better title to the crown than Athaliah had. By his eminent gifts and graces he was fitted to serve his country, and better service he could not do it than to free it from Athaliah's usurpation; and we have reason to think he did not make this attempt till he had first asked counsel of God and known his mind, either by prophets or Urim, perhaps by both. II. The management was very discreet and as became so wise and good a man as Jehoiada was. 1. He concerted the matter with the rulers of hundreds and the captains, the men in office, ecclesiastical, civil, and military; he got them to him to the temple, consulted with them, laid before them the grievances they at present laboured under, gave them an oath of secresy, and, finding them free and forward to join with him, showed them the king's son ( v. 4 ), and so well satisfied were they with his fidelity that they saw no reason to suspect an imposition. We may well think what a pleasing surprise it was to the good people among them, who feared that the house and lineage of David were quite cut off, to find such a spark as this in the embers. 2. He posted the priests and Levites, who were more immediately under his direction, in the several avenues to the temple, to keep the guard, putting them under the command of the rulers of hundreds, v. 9 . David had divided the priests into courses, which waited by turns. Every sabbath-day morning a new company came into waiting, but the company of the foregoing week did not go out of waiting till the sabbath evening, so that on the sabbath day, when double service was to be done, there was a double number to do it, both those that were to come in and those that were to go out. These Jehoiada employed to attend on this great occasion; he armed them out of the magazines of the temple with David's spears and shields, either his own or those he had taken from his enemies, which he devoted to God's honour, v. 10 . If they were old and unfashionable, yet those that used them might, by their being David's, be reminded of God's covenant with him, which they were now acting in the defence of. Two things they were ordered to do:— (1.) To protect the young king from being insulted; they must keep the watch of the king's house ( v. 5 ), compass the king, and be with him ( v. 8 ), to guard him from Athaliah's partizans, for still there were those that thirsted after royal blood. (2.) To preserve the holy temple from being profaned by the concourse of people that would come together on this occasion ( v. 6 ): Keep the watch of the house, that it be neither broken through nor broken down, and so strangers should crowd in, or such as were unclean. He was not so zealous for the projected revolution as to forget his religion. In times of the greatest hurry care must be taken, Ne detrimentum capiat ecclesia — That the holy things of God be not trenched upon. It is observable that Jehoiada appointed to each his place as well as his work ( v. 6, 7 ), for good order contributes very much to the expediting and accomplishing of any great enterprise. Let every man know, and keep, and make good, his post, and then the work will be done quickly. 3. When the guards were fixed, then the king was brought forth, v. 12 . Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion! for even in thy holy mountain thy king appears, a child indeed, but not such a one as brings a woe upon the land, for he is the son of nobles, the son of David ( Eccl. x. 17 )—a child indeed, but he had a good guardian, and, which was better, a good God, to go to. Jehoiada, without delay, proceeded to the coronation of this young king; for, though he was not yet capable of despatching business, he would be growing up towards it by degrees. This was done with great solemnity, v. 12 . (1.) In token of his being invested with kingly power, he put the crown upon him, though it was yet too large and heavy for his head. The regalia, it is probable, were kept in the temple, and so the crown was ready at hand. (2.) In token of his obligation to govern by law, and to make the word of God his rule, he gave him the testimony, put into his hand a Bible, in which he must read all the days of his life, Deut. xvii. 18, 19 . (3.) In token of his receiving the Spirit, to qualify him for this great work to which he before was called, he anointed him. Though notice is taken of the anointing of the kings only in case of interruption, as here, and in Solomon's case, yet I know not but the ceremony might be used for all their kings, at least those of the house of David, because their royalty was typical of Christ's, who was to be anointed above his fellows, above all the sons of David. (4.) In token of the people's acceptance of him and subjection to his government, they clapped their hands for joy, and expressed their hearty good wishes to him: Let the king live; and thus they made him king, made him their king, consented to, and concurred with, the divine appointment. They had reason to rejoice in the period now put to Athaliah's tyranny, and the prospect they had of the restoration and establishment of religion by a king under the tuition of so good a man as Jehoiada. They had reason to bid him welcome to the crown whose right it was, and to pray, Let him live, concerning him who came to them as life from the dead and in whom the house of David was to live. With such acclamations of joy and satisfaction must the kingdom of Christ be welcomed into our hearts when his throne is set up there and Satan the usurper is deposed. Hosanna, blessed is he that comes: clap hands, and say, "Let King Jesus live, for ever live and reign, in my soul, and in all the world;" it is promised ( Ps. lxxii. 15 ), He shall live, and prayer shall be made for him, and his kingdom, continually. 13 And when Athaliah heard the noise of

Testimony - The book of the law, which he put into the king's hand, to mind him of his duty at his entrance upon his kingdom, which was to read and write out that holy book, Deut 17:18 , and to govern himself and his kingdom by it: the law of God being frequently and most properly called a testimony, because it is a witness of God's will, and man's duty.