2 Kings 11
PATfourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. His partial obedience was not without its reward: which had been greater if he had been as zealous in all things as he was in this one instance; the following history shews the truth of this prediction: the kingdom continuing in his posterity, till the days of Zachariah, who was the fourth from Jehu, (xv. 8.) and reigned only so long, as to mako good this prophecy.
2 Kings 11:1
joLND when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saio that her son was dead, she arose, and destroyed all the seedroyal. There were many of them cut off by Jehu, as we read in the foregoing chapter; and not a few by others, 2 Chron. xxi. 4. xxii. 1. but jiow their destruction was completed by Athaliah: who, as she was ambitious of government, so sho was enraged to sec Ahab’s family cut off; and therefore resolved to do as much by the house of David: and perhaps she was afraid Jehu should come and kill her because she was of the house of Ahab; and therefore endeavoured to strengthen herself by getting into the throne, which she could not compass without the destruction of the royal family. For she was a tvicked ivoman, as she is elsewhere called, and had played the harlot with another man, by whom >he had children; as the Jewish doctors gather from 2 Chron. xxiv. 7.
2 Kings 11:2
But Jehosheba thq daughter of king Joram. Not by Athaliah, but by another wife. For Athaliah would not have suffered her daughter to £>c niarried to the high-priest, nor would he (in all likelihood) have married the daughter of such a woman.. Sister of Ahaziah.] By tho father’s side. Took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from the king’s sons that were slain.] Some think that he was thrown among them, and thought to be dead; but she snatched him away, and brought him to life: or, as P. Martyr understands it, his nurse threw him among the slain on purpose to save his life, and came afterward and stole him away. But the plain meaning seems to be, that they being all ordered to be slain, she secretly stole him away, and preserved him. And they hid him.] That is, she and her husband Jehoiada,’ the high-priest, to whom she was married, (2 Chron. xxii. 11.) And his nurse, in the bedchamber, from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.] It appears, by the next verse,, that this bedchamber was in the house of the Lord; that is, the temple. Which doth not in the Scripture always signify the sanctuary; but, in a larger sense, comprehends all the courts belonging to it. So Kimchi observes, that the whole mountain of the house is called the house of the Lord. And this chamber here spoken of was in the outward court of all, called, by Josephus, irpurov Upbv, the first holy place. For in the inner court nobody lay, nor might any woman come into it. (See L’Empcreur, upon Codex Middoth. cap. 2. sect. 3.)
2 Kings 11:3
And he was with her in the house of the Lord six years. The ministers of God were so true to Jehoiada, that he lay thus long undiscovered. And Athaliah did reign over the land.] “Not dejnre (as** the lawyers spake), but de facto. For if we may tielieve the Jews, it was not lawful for a M’oman to reign over them. So Maimonides, in the treatise Melachim: " They do not place a woman on the throne,” because it is said, Deut. xvii. 15. If thou wilt set a king over thee, and not a queen. " And so in all the prefectures in Israel, they place none but men/’ She being therefore an usurper, it may seem strange she held the. throne so long as six years, against the constitution of the kingdom. But, in after-ages, there is an example of one that held it longer. For Alexandra,- the widow of Jannasus, after the death of her husband, possessed herself of the throne, and reigned nine years, as Josephus relates, lib. xiii. Antiq. cap. 24. (See Schickard, in his Mischpat Hammclech, cap*. 2. Thcor. 3.)
2 Kings 11:4
And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched. Jehoiada was not a mere private man, but a person of great authority in the kingdom, who, knowing Athaliah was an usurper, and that he had the right heir to the kingdom in his possession (which if he had not, his omu wife had a better right than Athaliah), thought he had sufficient warrant to dethrone her, and set up him that had the undoubted title to the crown. Which he did when he was seven years old; because then he grew so big, that he could not well be longer concealed; and it was fit also be should be educated in a royal manner; which he could not be while he lay hid. The rulers over hundreds.] The names of five of them arc set down in 2 Chron. xxiii. L who were all, some think; of the tribe of Levi. For they of that tribe were the persons principally employed in this undertaking, as appears by the sequel. But we learn from that place in the Chronicles, ver. “2, that whosoever they were, they went about Microsoft ® CHAP. XI.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE- KINGS. all Judah, and gathered not only the Levites, but the chief of the fathers of Israel. With the captains of the guard.’] The chief commanders of the soldiery, and those that had been the former king’s guard: for it is not likely he durst call those who were the guard of the present queen. And brought them to him into the house of the Lord.) Into that part of it where Joash was kept, where Jehoiada discoursed with them. • *, . And made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the Lord, and shewed them the king’s son.] He discovered to them the true heir of the crown, and they entered into a covenant to restore him: which they bound with an oath of secrecy.
2 Kings 11:5
And he commanded them, saying, Tins is the thing that ye should do. These words, and those that follow, are certainly spoken to the priests and Levites (with whom those captains beforementioned were to join), as men whom Jehoiada had perfectly under his command, and whom he could trust: to whom he gives the following orders. A third part of you that enter in on the sabbath, shall even be keepers of the ivatch of the king’s house.] The priests and Levites took their turns in their attendance at the temple; and their course was finished in the space of a week. Every week a course went out, and another came in. Now they who now entered upon their week of attendance (which was on the eve of every sabbath) were divided by Jehoiada into three parts; one’ of which he here orders to guard the king’s house: that is, that part of the temple on the north where he lodged, and was now educated. •
2 Kings 11:6
And a third part shall be at the gate ofSur. That is, the east gate of the temple, towards the city; which was the principal (and, at the first, the only) entrance into the house of the Lord. This is called the gate of the foundation, 2 Chron. xxiii. 5. (and by five other names, if we may believe the Talmudists), where another part were ordered to guard it. Abarbinel thinks this eastern gate was called Sur, being as much as to say, go back; because no unclean person durst enter into this gate: and the gate of the foundation, because it was, as he speaks, the gate of the first sanctuary. And a third part at the gate behind the guard.] The other third part he set at the south gate, which looked towards the royal palace; and through which Athaliah was wont to come, and therefore had a guard near this place. Behind which these Levites were -placed by Jehoiada, to observe their motions. So shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down.] They were to* take special care, that the house of the Lord was not any way profaned; suffering none to come nearer to it than they ought: and particularly watching those out of the palace, that they did not defile it. So De Dieu thinks the word massach (which we translate be not broken down) ought to be understood, being as much as be massach, by pulling away those that shall dare to pollute the holy place, and would come in to hurt the king. Or, as other learned men have interpreted it; they were to keep the watch of the house at the breach: which the wicked sons of Athaliah (which she had by another man) had made, as wc read 2 Chron. xxiv. 7. Dr. Lightfoot thinks, that, besides these three parts for the design which Jehoiada intended, there were three more (six in all) for the ordinary service pf the temple. For he would not have that neglected, while he took care of the affairs of the kingdom. (See his book of the Temple, chap. 20.):
2 Kings 11:7
And tivo parts of all you that go forth on the sabbath. It is well known, that David divided the priests into twenty-four courses, to attend the service of the temple in, theirturns: everyone ofwhich courses ministered their week from sabbath to sabbath. So Josephus saith expressly, he ordained each should minister eight days, a™ Sa/3j3arov €7rt 2aj3j3aroy, from one sabbath to another, (lib. viii. Antiq. cap. 2.) For that course which went out did not depart, till the sabbath was over; and that which came in entered, when it began; as the learned Mr. Whiston in his lato Chronology expounds the words of Josephus, p. 156. < y. Even they shall keep the ivatch of the house of the Lord about the king.] He adds two parts of those wHo had finished their course, and went off to go home into the country, whom he would have to stay at Jerusalem, and assist the rest beforenamed; especially in strengthening that part of the temple that lay towards the palace; or rather to be the king’s guard, when he came out of his lodgings (where he was at present) into the court of the Lord’s house.
2 Kings 11:8
And ye shall compass the king round about, every man with his iveapons in his hand: and he that cometh within the ranges, he shall be slain. By the ranges is to be understood, if not the ranks of men that stood about the mountain of the house of the Lord,;the ranks of trees that grew^ on either* side of the causey, or the rails that were set on either side of it, for the stay and safety of those that passed upon it. (See Dr. Lightfoot in the same place.) And be ye with the king as hegoeth out, and as he cometh t7i.] When.he went out to walk, or do any other thing; and when he returned to his apartment.
2 Kings 11:9
And the captains of the hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada commanded: and thpj took evemj man his men that were to come in on the sabbath, with those that s should go out on the sabbath, and caine to Jehoiada the priest.] To shew they were all disposed according to his order.*
2 Kings 11:10
And to the captains of the hundreds did the priest give king David’s spears and shields, that were in the house of the Lord. They did not come armed into the temple, lest they should give any suspicion; but Johoiada furnished them with such weapons as the temple afforded; particularly with the spears and shields, which king David had used, and dedicated after all his wars as monuments of God’s goodness to him; and perhaps several spears and shields of great men, which he had taken as spoils in his wars.
2 Kings 11:11
And the guard stood, every man with his weapon 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.] The guard within the court mentioned ver. 7. stood from the south part of the temple towards the palace, to the north part of it, where the king lay hid, about the great altar of burnt-offering (which was at the east gate) and the sanctuary; and then the king was brought forth, and placed below the altar, that all might see him.
2 Kings 11:12
And he brought out the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and they made him king, and anointed him. Having produced Joash, he put the crown on his head (which I suppose was kept* in 3 S Microsoft® A COMMENTARY UPON [chap. XI. tho sanctuary), and then put the book of the law into his hand, according to Deut. xvii. 18, 10. which is called the testimony, because God therein testified what he would have the king and them all do. And thereupon he declared him to be king of Israel, and then anointed him: which it was not necessary to do (and therefore he is said to be made king before it was done), being the son of a king, had not Athaliah disturbed the succession, and pretended to the kingdom. Therefore, to settle all things, he was anointed as Solomon and Jehu were. But there is a doubt what is meant by eduth, which we translate testimony; supposing it comes from the root, which signifies to testify. But there are those, particularly Forsterus, Avenarius, and others of greater note, who derive it from the Hebrew word adah, which signifies to clothe, put on,‘and adorn; and so take eduth for some royal ornament, which was a maVk of kingly dignity: and that, it is probable, might bo a bracelet which Jehoiada put upon the young king, together with the crown. This conjecture is countenanced by what we read of the Amalekite, who brought the bracelet on Saul’s arm to David, as well as the crown that was on his head. (Seo Fortunatus Scacchus Myrothec. iii. cap. 41.) And they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king!] The guards and the people (as the next verse explains it) testified their joy by clapping their hands and shouting, as they did at king’s Solomon’s coronation, (1 Kings i.34. 39/) For clapping of hands was a token of joy, as appears by many places, (Psal. xlvii. 1. Isa.lv. 12.)
2 Kings 11:13
And ivhen Athaliah heard the noise of the guards, and of the people. Who were now assembled to sec their king. *. She came to the people into the temple of the Lord.] Into the outward court where they were met together. And she seems in a great fright to have come alone, or but few attendants with her.
2 Kings 11:14
And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was. Some of the Jews, and many great men among Christian writers, understand by this pillar the brazen scaffold which Solomon erected at the dedication of the temple, (2 Chron. vi. 13.) But the plainest meaning seems to me, that he stood by the post of the east gate in the inner court, where the station of the king was. Which Vitringa hath made probable, in his Synagoga Vet. p. 31, &c. where he observes, that the king alone entered at the east gate on the sabbath and the new moons; but on the other days at the south or north gate, where the people entered; which: he gathers from Ezek. xlvi. 1, 2. lie stood, I suppose, only to be better seen by the people; otherwise sitting was a posture of authority. Ahd the princes, and the trumpeters by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew tvith trumpets.] This made her soon apprehend the danger she was in, as it here follows. For the people, when they saw their young king, expressed their joy, it is likely, in some such acclamations as the people of Rome made at the inauguration of Claudius,’* Claudi Auguste, Principem te, aut qualis tu es semper Octavianus, te respublica.requirebat, tu frater, tn pater, tu amicus, tu bonus senator, tu vero princeps,” as Trebcl. Pollio relates in his life. For though Joash had done nothing praiseworthy, being but a child; yet they rejoiced in the felicity which they promised themsolves in his reign, under the government of such a man as Jehoiada. And Athaliah rent Iter clothes, and cried, Treason, treason!] Adding, as Josephus relates, Take^that boy and kill him; meaning Joash, in whose behalf this conspiracy, as sha called it, was made against her. But she spake like a distracted woman, there being nobody on her side to execute any of her commands.
2 Kings 11:15
And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds, and the officers of the host, and said unto them, Have her forth without the ranges. Through which they had suffered her to come, being a queen, contrary to the order, ver. 8. And him that followeth her kill with the sword.] If any body appeared to abet and rescue her, he commanded him to be slain. For the priest liad said, Let her not be slain in the house of the Lord.] From whence they’dragged her, until they had brought her down to the bottom of the causey, and there they slew her.
2 Kings 11:16
And they laid hands on her; and she tvent by the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house: and there she was slain. Tlxat is, saith the same author (chap. 5. sect. 2. of the Temple), they got her out of the mountain of the house, and brought her down the causey; and’when she came near the horse-gate, through which the horses went up out of tho stables of Millo, when the king had occasion for them, there they slew her. By the which the horses came into the king’s house.] There was another horse-gate in the main wall of the city, (Jer. xxxi. 39.) but that was distinct from this; which was peculiar to the king’s horses: and therefore a distinctive character is set upon it, that it was the horse-gate towards the king’s house, (2 Chron. xxiii. 15.) So it should be rendered, rather than by the king’s house: for neither of these gates was near his house, but at a distance from it; and wc may call this gate here spoken of, the back-way to the king’s house at the stable-gate.
2 Kings 11:17
And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord’s people. He first takes care about religion, and engaged them in a solemn covenant to root out idolatry, and to restore the true worship of God, and continue in it. Between the king also and the people.] That they should be his obedient subjects, and he should govern them by the law. This was directly agreeable to the apostolic precept, u Fear God, and hononr the king."
2 Kings 11:18
And all the people of the land tvent to the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly. Accordingly they began immediately to make good their covenant, in destroying the worship of Baal: which had been introduced among the people of Judah by’^Jehoram, (viii.18.) and was continued by Ahaziah, (ver. 27.) And slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altar.] To which it is possible he fled, as a place of refuge; or they dragged him hither to make him a victim to his god. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord.] Levites to keep the door, lest any one who was unclean should enter into it. (Sec more, 2 Chron. xxiii.
2 Kings 11:19
And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the Microsoft® CHAP. XII. THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. captains of the guards, and the people of the land.’] Brought them out of the temple, that they might conduct the king to his palace, as it here follows. And they brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to’ the king’s house.’] By that gate of the king’s palace, where a guard was to be kept for his safety. And he sat on the throne of the kings.] Which was the accomplishment of his inauguration.
2 Kings 11:20
And all the people of the land rejoiced. Applauding what Jehoiada had done. And the city ivas in quiet.] Nobody appeared in defence of Athaliah. And they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king’s house.] Not far from it: the people having so little kindness for her, that they suffered her to be slain without any opposition. In the Chronicles, indeed, the words are, the city was in quiet after that they had slain Athaliah, (2 Chron. xxii. 21.)’ Which may import there was some bustle before, when she was apprehended; but after her death there was no stir: nor do we read they were so much concerned for her as to bury her.
2 Kings 11:21
Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign. Being so very young, he was very unfit for so weighty a charge; but he was under the direction of so excellent a counsellor, that while Jehoiada lived, all things went well, and the nation was very happy, as we read in the next chapter. But that good man beingdead, he was seduced by some greatmen about him to idolatry: (2 Chron. xxiv. 17, &c.) which shews him to have been a weak prince, who wanted judgment in things of greatest moment.
But Jehu took no care to tvalk in the laio of the Lord God of Israel tvith all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. This admonition from God (which sufficiently shewed he was not well pleased with him) did him nd good; but policy prevailed against religion, and persuaded him to continue the old idolatry when ho had destroyed the new.
In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel. He took several of their frontier towns, I suppose, and thereby opened a way to make great ravages in their country. For though. Jehu was a valiant man, yet God did not prosper him, because he was not a sincere servant of his.
From Jordan eastward, all the land ofGilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer (which is by the river Arnon), even Gilead and Bashan. This fully explains what was said in theforegoing verse, that God cut them short. For Hazael took mi their country beyond Jordan:, the whole kingdom, which the Israelites took from Sihon and Og. Thus these countries which the Israelites first conquered were the first thatthey lost.
Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?. Which was extant in those days when this was written; and related his history more at large: of which this is a brief abridgment.
And Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.
And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel tvas twenty arid eight years. Longer than any of the kings of Israel his predecessors.