2 Kings 11:13

And when Athaliah heard the noise The arrangements had all been made so cautiously that the queen-mother had no knowledge of what was being done. But we may suppose that ere long the report would reach her through her attendants, and so she went, where otherwise she was not wont to go, toward the house of the Lord. Unless she had thought it some matter of grave concern we cannot fancy her going out to put an end by her presence, if possible, to the proceeding. Josephus" account is that -having heard the tumult and applause unexpectedly, Athaliah was greatly troubled, and hastened with her private troops from the palace: that the priests admitted her into the temple area, but prevented the armed men who were with her from entering". The Bible narratives do not speak of a guard accompanying Athaliah, but it is not likely that she would go forth on such an errand without one, though the influence of a queen-mother was very powerful.

of the guardand of the people There is no conjunction in the Hebrew, and the guard were the -runners" spoken of above. The narrative in Chronicles transposes the two words, and the rendering there is -of the people running", but probably the conjunction is wanting in both cases through the error of the scribe. So in 2 Chronicles 23:2 the R.V. has put on the margin -of the people, of the guard and of those who praised the king".

she came to the peopleinto the temple[R.V. house] of the Lord The assembly was a notable one and seems to have been at the time of some feast which had brought a more than usually great concourse to Jerusalem.