F4 G¹ 11:1-16. Athaliah.
G² 11:17-12:21. Joash.
G¹ h 1. The slaying of the seed-royal.
i 2,3-. Joash. Rescue of.
j -3. Athaliah. Reign.
k 4-12. Manifestation of Joash.
j 13,14. Athaliah. Alarm.
i 15. Joash. Capture of the murderess.
h 16. The slaying of the usurper.788 B.C.
2 Kings 11)
1 And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah (= afflicted of the Lord. See 2 Chron. 22:2 for genealogy) saw that her son was dead, she arose (another of the 10 occasions of death being caused by a woman. See Judg.4:21) and destroyed all the seed royal (or thought she did. They were left for dead).
2 But Jehosheba (= Yahaveh's oath. She was the wife of Jehoiada, the high priest [2 Chron.22:11]; Jehoiada being brother-in-law to Ahaziah [2 Chron. 22:11], and therefore uncle to Joash), the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash (= to whom Yahaveh hastens, i.e. to help) the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons [which were] slain (Expressive words, pointing to our Joash, raised from the dead and now hidden in the house of God on high; and we with Him [Col.3:1-3]); and they hid him, [even] him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.
3 And he was with her hid in the house of the Lord (This was the safest possible place: for it had been broken up and everything moved to the house of Baal [2 Chron.24:7]. The Temple courts were deserted. Hence Jehoiada and the priest were plotting for the restoration of the rightful heir. See note on Libnah, 8:22) six years (the number of man's defiance and disorder).
And Athaliah did reign over the land.
782 B.C.
4 And the seventh year (#7 = spiritual completeness) Jehoiada (= Yahaveh knows. See Jehosheba, v.2) sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds (for their names see 2 Chron. 23:1), 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 (cp. 2 Chron.23:3).
5 And he commanded them, saying, “This [is] the thing that you all shall do; A third part of you must come in on the sabbath and must be keepers of the watch of the king's house;
6 And a third part [must be] at the gate of Sur (= turned off, i.e. deteriorated. Only occ.); and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall you all 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 you all shall compass the king round about, every man (Heb. ’îsh) with his weapons in his hand: and he that comes within the ranges, let him be slain: and be you all with the king as he goes out and as he comes in.”
9 And the captains over the hundreds did according to all [things] that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they took every man (Heb. ’îsh) his men (Heb. ’enõsh) 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 (all prepared by him against such a day as this [2 Sam.8:7]), 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 (see Ex.17:14); and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, “God save the king.”
13 And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard [and] of the People, she came to the People into the temple of the Lord.
14 And when she looked, behold, the king stood by the 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 tore her clothes, and cried, “Treason, Treason.”
15 But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said to them, “Have her forth outside the ranges: and him that follows her kill with the sword.” For the priest had said, “Let her not be slain in the house of the Lord.”
16 And they made way for her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king's house: and there was she slain.
G² m 11:17-21. Conspiracy of Athaliah. Defeated.
n 12:1. Joash. Accession.
o p¹ 12:2,3. Personal. Well-doing.
p² 12:4-16. Ecclesiastical. Reform.
p³ 12:17,18. Political. Invasion.
n 12:19. Joash. Record.
m 12:20,21. Conspiracy of servants. Successful.
17 And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the People, that they should be the the Lord's People; between the king also and the People.
18 And all the People of the land went into the house of Baal (built by Jehoram and Athaliah [2 Chron.24:7), and broke it down; his altars and his images broke they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan (= a gift) the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord.
19 And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the People of the land; 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. And he sat on the throne of the kings.
20 And all the People of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet (When? When the usurper had been cast out, and slain. So shall it be when judgment shall be executed on the "prince" and "god" of this world [Rev.19:1,2,7]): and they slew Athaliah with the sword [in] the king's house.
21 Seven years old [was] Jehoash when he began to reign.