2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles 23
1In the seventh year, Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into a covenant with him. 2They went around in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers’ households of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3All the assembly made a covenant with the king in God’s house. He said to them, “Behold, the king’s son must reign, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the sons of David. 4This is the thing that you must do. A third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be gatekeepers of the thresholds. 5A third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation. All the people will be in the courts of Yahweh’s house. 6But let no one come into Yahweh’s house, except the priests and those who minister of the Levites. They shall come in, for they are holy, but all the people shall follow Yahweh’s instructions. 7The Levites shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand. Whoever comes into the house, let him be slain. Be with the king when he comes in, and when he goes out.”
8So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they each took his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath; with those who were to go out on the Sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest didn’t dismiss the shift. 9Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David’s, which were in God’s house. 10He set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, near the altar and the house, around the king. 11Then they brought out the king’s son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant, and made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and they said, “Long live the king!”
12When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into Yahweh’s house. 13Then she looked, and, behold, the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpets by the king. All the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. The singers also played musical instruments, and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and said, “Treason! treason!”
14Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks; and whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword.” For the priest said, “Don’t kill her in Yahweh’s house.” 15So they made way for her. She went to the entrance of the horse gate to the king’s house; and they killed her there.
16Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, all the people, and the king, that they should be Yahweh’s people. 17All the people went to the house of Baal, broke it down, broke his altars and his images in pieces, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18Jehoiada appointed the officers of Yahweh’s house under the hand of the Levitical priests, whom David had distributed in Yahweh’s house, to offer the burnt offerings of Yahweh, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as David had ordered. 19He set the gatekeepers at the gates of Yahweh’s house, that no one who was unclean in anything should enter in. 20He took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from Yahweh’s house. They came through the upper gate to the king’s house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom. 21So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. They had slain Athaliah with the sword.
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What others are saying
4 commentators · 19 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry2
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
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…
Here we have, I. The people pleased, Ch2 23:12, Ch2 23:13. When the king stood at his pillar, whose right it was to stand there, all the people of the land rejoiced to see a rod sprung out of the stem of Jesse, Isa 11:1. When it seemed a withered root in a…
John Gill1
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
The contents of this chapter are the same with 2 Kings 11:4 and need no other explanation than what may be found in the notes there, to which the reader is referred.See Gill on 2 Kings 11:4. See Gill on 2 Kings 11:5. See Gill on 2 Kings 11:6. See Gill on 2…
Adam Clarke8
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
And in the seventh year - See on Kg2 11:4 (note), etc.
Spears and bucklers - See on Kg2 11:10 (note).
God save the king - May the king live! See on Kg2 11:12 (note).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown8
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
chief of all the fathers of Israel--This name is frequently used in Chronicles for Judah and Benjamin, now all that remained of Israel. Having cautiously entrusted the secret of the young prince's preservation to all the leading men in the kingdom, he…
This is the thing that ye shall do--The arrangements made for defense are here described. The people were divided into three bodies; one attended as guards to the king, while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates, and the captains and military…
Jehoiada . . . dismissed not the courses--As it was necessary to have as large a disposable force as he could command on such a crisis, the high priest detained those who, in other circumstances, would have returned home on the expiry of their week of service.
World English Bible — Public domain