Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Jehoiada the Pontiff anoints the seven-year-old Joash as king, kills his grandmother Athaliah who was reigning, restores the worship of God, and overthrows the altars and shrines of Baal.
Vulgate Text: 2 Paralipomenon 23:1-21
1. In the seventh year, Jehoiada, strengthened by God, took the centurions—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—and made a covenant with them. 2. They went about through Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah, and the heads of families of Israel, and came to Jerusalem. 3. Then all the assembly made a covenant in the house of God with the king. And Jehoiada said to them: Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the Lord spoke concerning the sons of David. 4. This therefore is what you shall do: 5. A third part of you who come in on the sabbath—of the priests, Levites, and gatekeepers—shall be at the gates; a third part at the king's house; and a third at the Gate of the Foundation; and all the rest of the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. 6. Let no one else enter the house of the Lord except the priests and those Levites who minister; they alone shall enter, because they are sanctified; and all the rest of the people shall keep the watches of the Lord. 7. The Levites shall surround the king, each with his weapons; and if anyone else enters the temple, let him be killed; and they shall be with the king when he enters and when he goes out. 8. So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the Pontiff had commanded, and each took his men who were under him, both those coming on duty on the sabbath and those going off duty; for Jehoiada the Pontiff had not dismissed the divisions that usually succeeded one another each week. 9. And Jehoiada the priest gave the centurions the spears, shields, and bucklers of King David, which he had consecrated in the house of the Lord. 10. He stationed all the people, each with his weapon, from the right side of the temple to the left side, before the altar and the temple, all around the king. 11. Then they brought out the king's son, placed the diadem on him and the testimony, gave him the law to hold in his hand, and made him king. Jehoiada the Pontiff and his sons anointed him, and they blessed him and said: Long live the king! 12. When Athaliah heard the noise, that is, the running and the praising of the king, she came in to the people in the temple of the Lord. 13. And when she saw the king standing on the step at the entrance, and the princes, and the troops around him, and all the people of the land rejoicing and sounding the trumpets, and playing on instruments of various kinds, and the voices of those praising, she tore her garments and cried: Treason! Treason! 14. And Jehoiada the Pontiff went out to the centurions and commanders of the army and said to them: Lead her out beyond the precincts of the temple, and let her be killed outside with the sword. And the priest commanded that she should not be killed in the house of the Lord. 15. And they laid hands on her neck; and when she had entered the Horse Gate of the king's house, they killed her there. 16. Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, all the people, and the king, that they would be the people of the Lord. 17. And all the people entered the house of Baal and destroyed it, and broke in pieces its altars and images; and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18. And Jehoiada appointed officers in the house of the Lord, under the authority of the priests and Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord to offer holocausts to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with joy and singing according to the arrangement of David. 19. He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord, so that no one unclean in any way should enter it. 20. He took the centurions, the mighty men, the leaders of the people, and all the common people, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord and entered through the upper gate into the king's house, and seated him on the royal throne. 21. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; for Athaliah had been slain with the sword.
I have explained this chapter in 4 Kings (2 Kings), chapter 11.
Verse 1: Jehoiada Was Strengthened
1. IN THE SEVENTH YEAR JEHOIADA WAS STRENGTHENED (by God). — He was a Pontiff of great spirit and virtue, who restored the royal line to the kingdom, and lived 130 years, 2 Chronicles 24:15. Some, together with our Henricus Samerius in his Chronology, think he was not the high priest, but the chief of the priests in the tribe of Judah, namely of those who were dispersed through the tribe of Judah and had charge of it. Their reason is that in the catalog of high priests found in 1 Chronicles chapter 6, and 1 Ezra (Ezra) 7:1, and in Josephus, book 10 of the Antiquities, chapter 11, Jehoiada is not named. But the Hebrew chronicle places Jehoiada in the number of high priests. Again, Josephus calls him archiereus, and Scripture calls him Pontiff and 'chief of the priests,' and in the Hebrew, 'first priest' and 'head of the priests,' that is, high priest. There is also the argument that he restored King Joash to the kingdom and anointed the king: but this was the office of the high priest. Again, the commands and orders that he gives here to all the priests, Levites, and the whole people in guarding the king and temple demonstrate that he was the supreme Pontiff over all. Moreover, neither Josephus nor Scripture, 1 Chronicles 6 and 1 Ezra (Ezra) 7:1, lists all the Pontiffs, but omits some; for from King Jehoshaphat to Josiah, a span of 238 years, they count only four Pontiffs — Ahitub, Meraioth, Zadok, and Shallum — each of whom would have had to serve 59 years in the pontificate, which is incredible. Jehoiada therefore and some others were omitted because he was not descended from Eleazar, the first son of Aaron, to whom the pontificate belonged by right of primogeniture. Perhaps also Jehoiada, like many others, had another name. Hence some think that the one Josephus places among the Pontiffs and calls Sedeas is Jehoiada, and the following Julius is Zechariah the son of Jehoiada. For Zechariah succeeded his father Jehoiada in the pontificate, according to Abulensis, Torniellus, and others, though the Hebrew chronicle, which Genebrardus and Salianus follow, asserts that Pedaiah succeeded Jehoiada. Jehoiada therefore restored both religion and the kingdom of Judah, and therefore after his death he was buried by King Joash in the tomb of the kings. Hence the Hebrew chronicle gives this epitaph and eulogy of Jehoiada: "Jehoiada grew old, full of days, and died when he was 130 years old. For when the stain of idolatry and ruin was beginning in the days of Solomon, Jehoiada was born at the same time to correct it." For Jehoiada was born about the 35th year of Solomon's reign, and died in the 28th year of Joash king of Judah. So Salianus.
Verse 5: Who Come in on the Sabbath
5. WHO COME IN ON THE SABBATH — to begin their weekly turn of service in the temple on the sabbath; for the Jews began the week from the sabbath, as we do from Sunday, and ended it when the next sabbath came around.
Verse 6: Let the Rest of the People Keep Watch
6. LET THE REST OF THE PEOPLE (both Levites and the faithful laity) KEEP THE WATCHES OF THE LORD — that is, let them perform their duty in the court of the house of the Lord, or the temple; namely, so that if any tumult should arise from soldiers whom Athaliah might send to kill Joash, they would stop them, impede them, and repel them. For this reason he had commanded in verse 5, saying: "Let the rest of the people be in the courts of the house of the Lord," that is, in the court which was, as it were, the temple of the laity, and was divided into various smaller courts. For Jehoiada wanted the young child-king to be protected not only by the guard of the Levites but also of the faithful people, lest any force or treachery be done to him by his impious grandmother Athaliah.
Verse 20: The Upper Gate
20. THE UPPER GATE. — This was the gate of the temple which led to the king's palace. It is called 'upper' because from the palace, which was situated in a lower place, one ascended through this gate into the temple, as is clear from 4 Kings (2 Kings) 11:6 and 19. The same gate is called in verse 5 the gate 'of the Foundation,' because it was erected on the very foundations of the temple, that is, on the Millo. So Vilalpandus, page 219. This gate above all others was ordered to be guarded, because through it Athaliah would come from the palace into the temple with her soldiers and bodyguard.