Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, March 28th, 2024
Maundy Thursday
There are 3 days til Easter!
Attention!
Partner with StudyLight.org as God uses us to make a difference for those displaced by Russia's war on Ukraine.
Click to donate today!

Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Kings 11:6

(a third also shall be at the gate Sur, and a third at the gate behind the guards), shall keep watch over the house for defense.
New American Standard Bible

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:
Nave's Topical Bible - Armies;   Church and State;   Citizens;   Conspiracy;   Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   Loyalty;   Orphan;   Sur;   Usurpation;   Watchman;   Women;   Zeal, Religious;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible Stories for Children;   Children;   Home;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Religion;   Stories for Children;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Fatherless;   Kings;   Levites, the;   Watchmen;  
Dictionaries:
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Athaliah;   Joash or Jehoash;   King, Kings;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Judah, tribe and kingdom;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Fulfillment;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Judgments of God;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Jehoiada;   Jerusalem;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Athaliah;   Canaan, History and Religion of;   High Priest;   History;   Kings, 1 and 2;   People of the Land;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Athaliah;   Chronicles, I;   Government;   Jehoash;   Jerusalem;   Marriage;   Priests and Levites;   Sur;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Athaliah ;   Guard;   Jehoiada ;   Sur;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Athaliah;   Jerusalem;   Joash;   Queen;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Footman,;   Jeru'salem;  
Encyclopedias:
Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Guard;   Jehoiada;   Joel (2);   Priest, High;   Priests and Levites;   Watch;  

Bridgeway Bible Commentary


End of Jezebel’s Baalism in Judah (11:1-21)

Ahaziah, king of Judah, had been assassinated the day of Jehu’s revolt (see 9:27). His mother Athaliah showed herself a true daughter of Jezebel when she killed all her grandchildren (except one who escaped), seized the throne, and established her mother’s Baalism in Judah. The one who escaped was the baby Joash, who was rescued by his aunt (a princess married to the high priest; 2 Chronicles 22:11) and hidden for six years in the temple (11:1-3).

When Joash was seven years old, the high priest Jehoiada, with the support of the palace and temple guards, claimed the throne for him. The coup was planned for a sabbath day, when the changing of the guard ensured that a much larger group of guards than usual would be at the temple (4-8). All went according to plan without bloodshed, apart from the execution of Athaliah (9-16).
Because Athaliah had interrupted the line of Davidic kings, the restoration of the Davidic king to the throne was accompanied by a renewal of the covenant. All Jerusalem celebrated the great day. The people went wild with joy, destroying Athaliah’s Baal temple and all that belonged to it (17-21).


Bibliographical Information
Flemming, Donald C. "Commentary on 2 Kings 11:6". "Fleming's Bridgeway Bible Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​bbc/2-kings-11.html. 2005.

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

JEHOIADA CONSPIRED TO MAKE JOASH KING OVER JUDAH

“And in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds over the Carites and of the guard, and brought them into the house of Jehovah; and he made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of Jehovah, and showed them the king’s son. And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do: a third part of you, that come in on the sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king’s house; and a third part shall be at the gate Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall ye keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier. And the two companies of you, even all that go forth on the sabbath, shall keep the watch of the house of Jehovah about the king. And ye shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he that cometh within the ranks, let him be slain: and be ye with the king when he goeth out, and when he cometh in.”

“Jehoiada” This man is designated as the High Priest in 2 Kings 12:10, but, in this chapter, he is called merely the priest. From this, certain radical scholars have postulated an impossible proposition, namely, that, “The high-priestly office was probably post-exilic.”Anthony L. Ash, p. 308. Ridiculous! The high-priestly office existed continually throughout the history of Israel from the times of Aaron in the shadow of Mount Sinai to Caiaphas who engineered the crucifixion of Christ.

A number of scholars have attempted to explain exactly how this conspiracy was supposed to work; but no account which we have read is very convincing. Whatever the plan was, it was carefully and deliberately laid; the captains of various divisions of the armed troops were made party to the conspiracy to overthrow Athaliah; and their willingness to do so is an eloquent comment upon the general detestation in which the people held that wicked woman.

“The Carites” Cook identified these with the Cherethites (1 Kings 1:38).Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 258. They were mercenaries employed by kings as guardians. “These people, along with the Pelethites and Gittites, were Philistine mercenary troops who were fiercely loyal to David and the Davidic dynasty (2 Samuel 15:18; 1 Samuel 30:14; Ezekiel 25:16; Zephaniah 2:5).”John C. Whitcomb, Studies in Kings and Chronicles (Winona Lake, Indiana: BMH Books, 1971).

Matthew Henry pointed out that Jehosheba, the wife of Jehoiada, was a daughter of King Joram and a sister of Ahaziah, and that she actually had a better right to the throne of Judah than Athaliah.Matthew Henry’s Commentary, op. cit., p. 767. It is an interesting question as to why Athaliah did not attempt to murder her. The fact that she was the wife of the High Priest might have been the reason.

Bibliographical Information
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on 2 Kings 11:6". "Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​bcc/2-kings-11.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Five divisions of the guard under their five captains are distinguished here. Three of the five divisions “enter in” on the Sabbath; the other two “go forth” on the Sabbath 2 Kings 11:7. By the former phrase seems to be meant the mounting guard at the royal palace (the “king’s house,” where Athaliah then was); by the latter the serving of escort to the sovereign beyond the palace bounds. Jehoiada orders that of those whose business it would be to guard the palace on the ensuing Sabbath, one company or cohort should perform that task in the ordinary way, while another should watch the gate of Sur - or better, “the gate of the foundation” 2 Chronicles 23:5 - that by which the palace was usually quitted for the temple, and a third should watch another of the palace gates, called “the gate of the guard” (see 2 Kings 11:19). The two companies whose proper business it would be to serve as the royal escort beyond the palace walls, he orders to enter the temple, and surround the person of the young king.

2 Kings 11:6

That it be not broken down - The one word in the original text of which this is a translation occurs nowhere else; and its meaning is very doubtful.

2 Kings 11:8

Within the ranges - Rather, “within the ranks.” If anyone tried to break through the soldiers’ ranks to the king, or even to disturb their order, he was to be immediately slain.

Bibliographical Information
Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on 2 Kings 11:6". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​bnb/2-kings-11.html. 1870.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 11

Now going back twenty-eight years. We go back now to when Jehu first became king, he killed Ahaziah, the king of Judah. And Ahaziah was the son of Athaliah, who was the daughter or a relationship to Jezebel. And there was an intermarriage there tying the kingdoms together.

Now Athaliah [the wicked queen,] when she heard that her son Ahaziah was killed, immediately she went out and killed all of the rest of the children of her son ( 2 Kings 11:1 ).

Or all of her grandchildren in order that she might reign as queen. In order that there be no heirs to the throne so that she could reign as queen. Now one of the children of Ahaziah, a baby, Jehosheba was hid away. This nurse took him and ran into the temple, and there they hid him and they raised him secretly for six years so that he was preserved. Athaliah wasn't able to kill him, and he was preserved and brought up actually in the temple and raised there in the temple in disguise for six years.

Now when he was seven years old, the priest who had more or less raised him, Jehoiada, sent out through all of Judah for all of the captains and all to come. And when he gathered them all together, he swore them to secrecy. And being a priest of God, made them swear by the Lord that they wouldn't reveal anything. And having sworn them all to secrecy, then he brought forth Jehosheba and he said, "Here is the descendant of David." You see, Athaliah wasn't the descendant of David. Here is the descendant of David to reign upon the throne. And now he says, "We're going to divide into three companies. And I want a part of you guys to surround the king. And I want a part of you to surround the temple. And surround the city, and we're going to proclaim him king."

And so they gathered together for the celebration, and they took this seven-year-old boy who was a descendant of David and they gathered all together.

They were all standing there and they brought him forth, and they put the crown on his head; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they all began to clap their hands, and say, God save the king. Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the guards and the people, she came into the temple of the LORD [to see what was going on]. And when she saw the king standing by the pillar, as was the manner of the king, and all of the princes and the trumpeters around him, and the people of the land rejoicing: then Athaliah tore her clothes, and she cried, Treason, Treason. And Jehoiada the priest said, [Get her out of here. Don't kill her in the temple but take her out and kill her.] So they laid hands on her; and they took her out: and killed her. And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD'S people ( 2 Kings 11:12-17 ).

So there came now a time of sort of spiritual revival as we have now a king who was raised in the temple under the strong influence of the priest. And now in conjunction with Jehoiada, the proclamation that the people are going to really turn back again and worship the Lord, Yahweh.

And all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and they broke it down; his altars, the images they broke in pieces thoroughly, they slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And they took the rulers, and the captains, and the people of the land; and they brought down to the king from the house of the LORD. And the king was placed upon the throne. And all of the people rejoiced, the city was quiet. And he was seven years old when he began to reign as king ( 2 Kings 11:18-21 ).

"





Bibliographical Information
Smith, Charles Ward. "Commentary on 2 Kings 11:6". "Smith's Bible Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​csc/2-kings-11.html. 2014.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

God’s preservation of a legitimate king 11:1-12

Athaliah was the mother of the Judean king Ahaziah, whom Jehu assassinated (2 Kings 9:27-29). She was a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and the sister of the Israelite kings Ahaziah and Joram, who had succeeded Ahab. She was the wife of the Judean king Jehoram, who had died of intestinal disease (2 Chronicles 21:18-19). Raiding Philistines and Arabians had killed her other sons besides Ahaziah (2 Chronicles 21:17).

Athaliah proceeded to assassinate all potential successors to the throne, totally disregarding God’s will that David’s descendants were to rule Judah (2 Samuel 7:16).

"It was one of the many attempts Satan made to exterminate the male offspring to make the coming One, the promised Savior, the seed of the woman, impossible. Had he succeeded through Athaliah in the destruction of the royal seed of David, the promise made to David would have become impossible." [Note: Gaebelein, 1:330.]

Jehosheba was a daughter of Athaliah’s husband, King Jehoram. She may not have been Athaliah’s own daughter, but was the half-sister of King Ahaziah of Judah, and the wife of the high priest in Judah, Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 22:11). [Note: Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 9:7:1.] She hid Jehoash (Joash), as Jochebed had hidden Moses (Exodus 2). According to Josephus, Jehosheba hid Jehoash in a room used to store spare furniture and mattresses. [Note: Ibid.]

The Carites (another spelling of Cherethites; cf. 2 Samuel 8:18; et al.) were special guards. The other guards (2 Kings 11:4) were priests and Levites (2 Chronicles 23:4).

When the high priest crowned Jehoash (Joash), who was then seven years old, he gave him a copy of the Mosaic Law consistent with what the Law required (Deuteronomy 17:18-19). This is the basis for the British custom of presenting the new king or queen of England with a copy of the Bible during the coronation ceremony. [Note: Wiseman, p. 233.]

Bibliographical Information
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentary on 2 Kings 11:6". "Dr. Constable's Expository Notes". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​dcc/2-kings-11.html. 2012.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Athaliah’s evil reign in Judah 11:1-20

Queen Athaliah usurped the throne of Judah. She was not a descendant of David. She was one of the 20 rulers of Judah, however. She was Judah’s only reigning queen and the strongest Baal advocate among Judah’s rulers.

Bibliographical Information
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentary on 2 Kings 11:6". "Dr. Constable's Expository Notes". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​dcc/2-kings-11.html. 2012.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And a third part shall be at the gate of Sur,.... Generally thought by the Jews to be the eastern gate, so called, as they say, because such as were defiled were bid to depart, or go back, as this word signifies, and not enter the temple; it is called "the gate of the foundation", 2 Chronicles 23:5 because, according to Ben Gersom, here the foundation of the sanctuary was first laid; it is said b to have five other names besides these:

and a third part at the gate behind the guard; the temple guard, which had a captain of them, Acts 4:1 this gate is supposed to be the same with "sippim", or the threshold gate, 2 Chronicles 23:4 and to be the southern one:

so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down; guard the temple, that none break or rush into it, of Athaliah's party.

b T. Hieros. Yoma apud Beckium in Targ. in 2 Chron. xxiii. 5.

Bibliographical Information
Gill, John. "Commentary on 2 Kings 11:6". "Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​geb/2-kings-11.html. 1999.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      4 And the seventh year Jehoiada sent 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 Chronicles 24:7. 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 3:1), 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, Deuteronomy 17:12. 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 (2 Kings 11:4; 2 Kings 11:4), 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,2 Kings 11:9; 2 Kings 11:9. 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, 2 Kings 11:10; 2 Kings 11:10. 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 (2 Kings 11:5; 2 Kings 11:5), compass the king, and be with him (2 Kings 11:8; 2 Kings 11:8), 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 (2 Kings 11:6; 2 Kings 11:6): 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 (2 Kings 11:6; 2 Kings 11:7), 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, 2 Kings 11:12; 2 Kings 11:12. 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 (Ecclesiastes 10:17)-- 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, 2 Kings 11:12; 2 Kings 11:12. (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,Deuteronomy 17:18; Deuteronomy 17:19. (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 (Psalms 72:15), He shall live, and prayer shall be made for him, and his kingdom, continually.

Bibliographical Information
Henry, Matthew. "Complete Commentary on 2 Kings 11:6". "Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​mhm/2-kings-11.html. 1706.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

But in the eleventh chapter we have another scene of deep import and interest. There is a wicked woman and when a woman is wicked there is no wickedness like hers. "And when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose, and destroyed all the seed royal. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons which were slain; and they hid him (even him and his nurse) in the bed-chamber, from Athaliah, so that he was not slain" (2 Kings 11:1-2).

We know what the love of a parent and of a grandparent is, but here in Athaliah was no right feeling. Her very blood was corrupted in her veins. And this wretched and selfish woman this inheritress of the wickedness of Jezebel, now, alas! in the line of Judah has the opportunity, as she thinks, to stamp out the royal line of Judah. Both the desire of dominion and the hatred of the purpose of God wicked allies strove together to accomplish this nefarious purpose. Had the line of Ahab been extinguished? Had Ahaziah and his brethren fallen? The guilty purpose rose in her heart to put an end to the seed-royal of Judah, as that of Israel had been already extinguished. What interest had she? How did she care for it? The word of God had distinctly assured them that the line of Judah should never go out the only real line that has remained unbroken from the beginning, and will throughout eternity. I speak now for the earth up to eternity at least, for even if we only look at the earth under the government of God, that line, and that line alone, so abides.

And yet there never was a line so slender: there never was a line that hung so often upon a single thread. Just contrast it with Israel. Think of seventy sons of one family! and, I will not say the promise, but the apparent moral certainty that that line must be perpetuated for ever! But no it was put out in one day! Who could have thought of it beforehand? And this too in the royal city, and by the royal servants, Such is man; such is the world. The word of the Lord had said it. Oh! what foolishness is ours that could ever doubt a word of God! And what has God given us all this for, but that we may know that if that word stands in what is evil, how much more in what is good? If God accomplishes His threats to the letter, can His promises fail for an instant? I grant indeed that His promises continually seem to fail, just for the very purpose that our faith should not stand in appearances, but in the word of God. There would be no faith about it if all seemed to be easy and flowing; but it is precisely the contrary. All appearance is against it, but God watches still. If it were only one feeble scion of that house, it was enough. It was a scion of that house, and that house stands for ever, because God has said it. And so we shall see in this chapter.

Athaliah then, Joash's own grandparent the one that ought most of all, from her sense of her relationship, to have been the guardian of that one only descendant of herself, who had her own blood in his veins this very Athaliah seeks to destroy the one last remaining scion of the house of David. Well, it seemed impossible! For think you that when she thought to kill the seed royal she forgot the little boy? Not she. She knew well about him. It is not for me to say how the thing was covered over how it was that Jehosheba knew how to guard the child from the suspicions and the inquisition that would naturally follow for one that was rescued, for if there was a woman that was crafty in what was evil it was Athaliah. I suppose it is not too much to imagine that there may have been a little conspiracy upon this good Jehosheba's part, also on the other side. At any rate, I have no wish to say anything to her disparagement, but I do say that, whatever the means, God employed the purpose of her heart for the shelter of the child. He was hidden then, and hidden where none could have expected in the temple. Such a state of things calls for no common screen for a royal child, and surely God was with the shelter that was given him. And although that temple was built for priests and not for a king in distress, still the grace of the Lord rises over all such merely ritual circumstances.

"And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guards, and brought them to him into the house of Jehovah, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of Jehovah." Here again we see that mere ritualism cannot stand against what is moral cannot stand against that which concerns the word of God in its accomplishment for him whom God had set over His people Israel. "He made a covenant with them and took an oath of them in the house of Jehovah, and showed them the king's son." The king's son was but a little boy, but he was the lawful king of Israel in fact only the king of Judah, but in title really of Israel. "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; 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."

All then is prepared. "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. And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of Jehovah. 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. 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."

Athaliah was not long without hearing the tumult. So she comes to the people and to the temple of Jehovah. A strange place for her, the hater of Jehovah and the patron of idolatry in its worst form! She comes, and looks, and behold, the king stood by a pillar. The king! And this was all that her murderous policy had led to and ended in. "The king stood by a pillar; as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets. And Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, Treason, treason;" The old voice the voice of her mother, before her, and the voice too of her son after her, and now her own. But the truth was, it was she who was the traitor. It was she that had tried to blot out the king from the throne; and, accordingly, she meets with the just reward of a traitor, for "Jehoiada commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said unto them, Have her forth without the ranges; and him that followeth her kill with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of Jehovah." There was no one to follow. She was alone, not alone in her evil, but now her evil had not one sympathizer. "So they laid hands on her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king's house; and there was she slain. "And Jehoiada made a covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people, that they should be Jehovah's people; between the king also and the people. And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down." And thus the worship of Baal was dealt with in Judah, as it had been before in Israel.

"In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of Jehovah all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him. But the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places" (2 Kings 12:0). Nevertheless, as long as Jehoiada was there there was a measure of care outwardly for the things of God; and, as the priests had watched over Jehoash in his childhood, Jehoash now in his maturity watches over them and says to the priests, "All the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of Jehovah, even the money of every one that passeth the account, the money that every man is set at, and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of Jehovah, let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance; and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found. But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash, the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house." That is, instead of applying the contributions for the house of Jehovah they had applied them to themselves.

"Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said unto them, Why repair ye not the breaches of the house? Now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house. And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house. But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the Jehovah: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah." And so it was done: the work proceeded, Jehoiada watched over it, and the house of Jehovah was repaired.

But however this might be, the heart of Jehoash was not with the Lord, and the death of Jehoiada gave an occasion to display it. This, however, I need not dwell upon now. "In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, all their days. And Jehoahaz besought Jehovah, and Jehovah hearkened unto him" (2 Kings 13:1-25). How gracious is the Lord! We see, alas! that the one who began so fair at last slips away from his original integrity. But we see that the man who hearkens and bows to the Lord is never without, at any rate, some measure of recognition on God's part. "And Jehovah gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as before-time. Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin."

But, after this, we find, "In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign," and he comes in contact with the prophet Elisha. This is a point that I wish to direct your attention to for a moment. Joash comes down, and weeps over Elisha's face, and says, "O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!" the same words that Elisha himself had used when he saw the prophet going up to heaven that is, he acknowledged him to be the strength of Israel. What makes it so touching is, that he was dying; all natural vigour was departing from him. But just as Elisha owned that the strength of Israel was not in horses or chariots, but that he was the one that he was all their strength as far as God had employed him for that purpose so here in the same way Joash the king of Israel owns the dying Elisha, and God owns the word. "And Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows; and he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow; and he put his hand upon it." But there was another and a mightier hand, although the hand of a dying man. "Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands," and God saw, and God gave the power, the needed power. "And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of Jehovah's deliverance." Truly dying Elisha was the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof; for God would show that the strength of his people does not lie in what man can see, but in the vigour that He himself imparts. "The arrow of Jehovah's deliverance," said he, "and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek till thou have consumed them. And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice and stayed."

Why did he stay? Did he not know what the prophet meant? Did he not apprehend the grace of God that was now at work? Why did he stay? Alas! a man never stays out the grace of God, even were it an Abraham who leaves off when he ought to go on! Yet the grace of God never fails of its purpose. Here, however, it was the judgment of God. The grace of God prevailed over the intercession of Abraham, for if Abraham dared not to ask for Sodom and Gomorrah to be spared for the sake of ten, and if God did better than simply spare the guilty cities for the sake of ten if God delivered the one righteous man and delivered for the righteous man's sake more than one that were not righteous if God's grace so abounded above the weakness of the interceding servant then, now in judgment God would hold strictly to the letter. Had he struck thrice to the ground with the arrows? Then thrice should the Syrians be smitten and no more. "And the man of God was wroth with him and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice." Truly Elisha was the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.

Bibliographical Information
Kelly, William. "Commentary on 2 Kings 11:6". Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​wkc/2-kings-11.html. 1860-1890.
adsFree icon
Ads FreeProfile