2 Chronicles 23:4

_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;_ 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 officers who entered the temple unarmed, to lull suspicion were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armoury, where David had deposited his trophies of victory, and which was re-opened on this occasion....

The writer of Chronicles relates the orders that were given to the Levites, the author of Kings those received by the royal body-guard (2 Kings 11:5 note)....

EXPOSITION This chapter records first those careful preparations of Jehoiada which eventuated in the safe proclaiming of Joash king (2 Chronicles 23:1); then the tragic demonstration and tragic end of Athaliah (2 Chronicles 23:12); and lastly, the beneficent action of Jehoiada over people and king, to the complete restoration of the worship and temple-services of the true God (2 Chronicles 23:16-14). The chapter is very closely paralleled by 2 Kings 11:4; while the characteristic and to be expected differences on the part of our text are very conspicuous. These will be noted a

2 Chronicles 23:1....

4. REFORMATION UNDER JOASH CHAPTER 23 Joash King and Athaliah's Execution _ 1. Joash made king (2 Chronicles 23:1)_ 2. Athaliah slain (2 Chronicles 23:12) 3. Jehoiada and the revival (2 Chronicles 23:16) The annotations to this interesting page in the history of Judah have already been made in connection with 2 Kings 11. We therefore pass over the preservation of the young child Joash and his hiding away in the LORD's house, on this account. However we call attention to the differences in the two accounts in...

2 CHRONICLES 23, 24. THE REIGN OF JOASH (see notes on 2 Kings 11:4 to 2 Kings 12:21. While the Chronicler bases his narrative, in the main, on the parallel passage in 2 K., he makes changes by means of additions and omissions which leave an entirely different impression on the mind of the reader; this applies more especially to the passage 2 Chronicles 23:1. According to 2 K. it is the captains of hundreds, the royal body-guard composed of foreigners, who enter the Temple at the instance of Jehoiada and proclaim Joash king; the Chronicler, on the other hand, imputes this action, not to the soldiery but to the priests and Levites, because the Law allowed none but priests and Levites to enter the sanctuary. He t

DOORS. thresholds. Especially that of Sur (2 Kings 11:6)....

_This_is _the thing that ye shall do_ The main features of the arrangement as given here and in 2 Kin. are clear, although some details are obscure. From Kings it appears that it was the custom on the Sabbath for two-thirds of the royal guards to be free and for one-third to be on duty at the palace. In order to avoid arousing suspicion this last third was, according to Jehoiada's directions, to be at the palace as usual, but it was to be subdivided into thirds and so distributed as to close the various means of communication between the palace and the rest of the city. Thus Athaliah was to be held as in a trap by her own guards (2 Kings 11:5-6). The two-thirds who were free from duty on the Sabbath were to be stationed in the Temple about the young king to guard him at his coronation. The arrangements are differently (and no doubt less accurately) stated in Chron. In the firs

8. THE TIMES OF ATHALIAH (2 Chronicles 22:10 to 2 Chronicles 23:15) TEXT 2 Chronicles 22:10. Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. 11. But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in the bedchamber. So Jehqshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah so that she slew him not. 12. And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land....

REIGN OF JOASH This chapter repeats 2 Kings 11:4, but brings into prominence the ecclesiastical officials in place of the soldiers of the royal guard....