Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708)

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S E C O N D   C H R O N I C L E S

CHAP. XXIII.

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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.

Preparations to Restore Judah.	B. C. 878.

     

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.

Joash Crowned and Athaliah Slain.	B. C. 878.

     

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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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708)

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