II
C H R O N I C L E S
CHAP. XXIII.
Six
years bloody Athaliah had tyrannised; in this chapter we have her deposed and
slain, and Joash, the rightful heir, enthroned. We had the story before nearly
as it is here related, 2 Kings xi. 4, &c. I. Jehoiada prepared the people
for the king, acquainted them with his design, armed them, and appointed them
their posts, ver. 1-10. II. He produced the king to the people, crowned him,
and anointed him, ver. 11. III. He slew the usurper, ver. 12-15. IV. He
reformed the kingdom, re-established religion, and restored the civil
government, ver. 16-21.
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Preparations to Restore Judah.
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B.
C. 878.
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1 And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened
himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and
Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the
son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him.
2 And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities
of Judah, and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to
Jerusalem. 3 And all the congregation made a covenant with the
king in the house of God. And he said unto them, Behold, the king's son shall
reign, as the LORD
hath said of the sons of David. 4 This is the thing that ye
shall do; A third part of you entering on the sabbath, of the priests and of
the Levites, shall be porters of the doors; 5 And a third
part shall be at the king's house; and a third part at the gate of the
foundation: and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of
the LORD.
6 But let none come into the house of the LORD, save the priests, and
they that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they are holy:
but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD.
7 And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his
weapons in his hand; and whosoever else cometh into the house, he shall
be put to death: but be ye with the king when he cometh in, and when he goeth
out. 8 So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things
that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took every man his men that were
to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go out on the sabbath:
for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses. 9 Moreover
Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears, and
bucklers, and shields, that had been king David's, which were in
the house of God. 10 And he set all the people, every man having
his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of
the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about.
11 Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and gave
him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed
him, and said, God save the king.
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 brighter and the more welcome. The continuance of
David's seed and throne was what God had sworn by his holiness (Ps. lxxxix.
35), and an interruption was no defeasance; the stream of government here runs
again in the right channel. The instrument and chief manager of the
restoration is Jehoiada, who appears to have been, 1. A man of great prudence,
who reserved the young prince for so many years till he was fit to appear in
public, and till the nation had grown weary of the usurper, who prepared his
work beforehand, and then effected it with admirable secresy and expedition.
When God has work to do he will qualify and animate men for it. 2. A man of
great interest. The captains joined with him, v. 1. The Levites and the
chief of the fathers of Israel came at his call to Jerusalem (v. 2) and
were there ready to receive his orders. See what a command wisdom and virtue
will give men. The Levites and all Judah did as Jehoiada commanded (v.
8), and, which is strange, all that were entrusted with the secret kept their
own counsel till it was executed. Thus the words of the wise are heard in
quiet, Eccl. ix. 17. 3. A man of great faith. It was not only common
equity (much less his wife's relation to the royal family) that put him upon
this undertaking, but a regard to the word of God, and the divine entail of
the crown (v. 3): The king's son shall reign, must reign, as
the Lord hath said. His eye to the promise, and dependence upon that,
added a great deal of glory to this undertaking. 4. A man of great religion.
This matter was to be done in the temple, which might occasion some breach of
rule, and the necessity of the case might be thought to excuse it; but he gave
special order that none of the people should come into the house of the Lord,
but the priests and Levites only, who were holy, upon pain of death, v.
6, 7. Never let sacred things be profaned, no, not for the support of civil
rights. 5. A man of great resolution. When he had undertaken this business he
went through with it, brought out the king, crowned him, and gave him the
testimony, v. 11. He ventured his head, but it was in a good cause,
and therefore he went on boldly. It is here said that his sons joined with him
in anointing the young king. One of them, it is likely, was that Zechariah
whom Joash afterwards put to death for reproving him (ch. xxiv. 20),
which was so much the more ungrateful because he bore a willing part in
anointing him.
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Joash
Crowned and Athaliah Slain.
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B.
C. 878.
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12 Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the
people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of
the LORD: 13 And she
looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the
princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced,
and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of music, and
such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said,
Treason, Treason. 14 Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the
captains of hundreds that were set over the host, and said unto them, Have her
forth of the ranges: and whoso followeth her, let him be slain with the sword.
For the priest said, Slay her not in the house of the LORD.
15 So they laid hands on her; and when she was come to the entering of the
horse gate by the king's house, they slew her there. 16 And
Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between
the king, that they should be the LORD's
people. 17 Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and
brake it down, and brake his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan
the priest of Baal before the altars. 18 Also Jehoiada appointed
the offices of the house of the LORD
by the hand of the priests the Levites, whom David had distributed in the
house of the LORD,
to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD,
as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as
it was ordained by David. 19 And he set the porters at the
gates of the house of the LORD,
that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.
20 And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of
the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the
house of the LORD: and they came through the
high gate into the king's house, and set the king upon the throne of the
kingdom. 21 And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city
was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword.
Here we have, I. The people pleased, v. 12, 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. xi. 1. When it
seemed a withered root in a dry ground, to see what they despaired of ever
seeing--a king of the house of David, what a pleasing surprise was it to them!
They ran in transports of joy to see this sight, praised the king, and praised
God, for they had with them such as taught to sing praise.
II. Athaliah slain. She ran upon the point of the sword of justice; for,
imagining her interest much better than it was, she ventured into the house
of the Lord at that time, and cried, Treason, treason! But nobody
seconded her, or sided with her. The pride of her heart deceived her. She
thought all her own, whereas none were cordially so. Jehoiada, as protector in
the king's minority, ordered her to be slain (v. 14), which was done
immediately (v. 15), only care was taken that she should not be slain
in the house of the Lord, that sacred place must not be so far disgraced,
nor that wicked woman so far honoured.
III. The original contract agreed to, v. 16. In the Kings it is
said that Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, the people, and
the king, 2 Kings xi. 17. Here it is said to be between himself, the
people, and the king; for he, as God's priest, was his representative in this
transaction, or a sort of mediator, as Moses was. The indenture was
tripartite, but the true intent and meaning of the whole was that they
should be the Lord's people. God covenanted by Jehoiada to take them for
his people; the king and people covenanted with him to be his; and then the
king covenanted with the people to govern them as the people of God,
and the people with the king to be subject to him as the Lord's people,
in his fear and for his sake. Let us look upon ourselves and one another as the
Lord's people, and this will have a powerful influence upon us in the
discharge of all our duty both to God and man.
IV. Baal destroyed, v. 17. They would not have done half their work if
they had only destroyed the usurper of the king's right, and not the
usurper of God's right--if they had asserted the honour of the throne,
and not that of the altar. The greatest grievance of Athaliah's reign was the
bringing in of the worship of Baal, and supporting of that; therefore that
must be abolished in the first place. Down with Baal's house, his altars, his
images; down with them all, and let the blood of his priests be mingled with
his sacrifices; for God had commanded that seducers to idolatry should be put
to death, Deut. xiii. 5, 6.
V. The temple service revived, v. 18, 19. This had been neglected in
the last reigns, the priest and people wanting either power or zeal to keep it
up when they had princes that were disaffected to it. But Jehoiada restored the
offices of the house of the Lord, which in the late times had been
disturbed and invaded, to the proper course and proper hands. 1. He appointed
the priests to their courses, for the due offering of sacrifices, according to
the law of Moses. 2. The singers to theirs, according to the appointment of
David. The sacrifices (it should seem) were offered with rejoicing and
singing, and with good reason. We joy in God when we receive the
atonement, Rom. v. 11. 3. The porters were put in their respective posts
as David ordered (v. 19), and their office was to take care that none
who were upon any account ceremonially unclean should be admitted into the
courts of the temple.
VI. The civil government re-established, v. 20. They brought the king
in state to his own palace, and set him upon the throne of the kingdom,
to give law, and give judgment, either in his own person or by Jehoiada his
tutor. Thus was this happy revolution perfected. The generality of the people
rejoiced in it, and the rest were quiet and made no opposition, v. 21.
When the Son of David is enthroned in the soul all is quiet and springs of joy
are opened.
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