Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Kings 11:12

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Kings 11:12. Put the crown upon him — This was a diadem or golden band that went round the head.

And - the testimony — Probably the book of the law, written on a roll of vellum. This was his sceptre. Some think that it was placed upon his head, as well as the diadem. The diadem, the testimony, and the anointing oil, were essential to his consecration.

They clapped their hands — This I believe is the first instance on record of clapping the hands as a testimony of joy.

God save the king — יחי המלך yechi hannmelech; May the king live! So the words should be translated wherever they occur.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

End of Jezebel’s Baalism in Judah (11:1-21)

Ahaziah, king of Judah, had been assassinated the day of Jehu’s revolt (see 9:27). His mother Athaliah showed herself a true daughter of Jezebel when she killed all her grandchildren (except one who escaped), seized the throne, and established her mother’s Baalism in Judah. The one who escaped was the baby Joash, who was rescued by his aunt (a princess married to the high priest; 2 Chronicles 22:11) and hidden for six years in the temple (11:1-3).

When Joash was seven years old, the high priest Jehoiada, with the support of the palace and temple guards, claimed the throne for him. The coup was planned for a sabbath day, when the changing of the guard ensured that a much larger group of guards than usual would be at the temple (4-8). All went according to plan without bloodshed, apart from the execution of Athaliah (9-16).
Because Athaliah had interrupted the line of Davidic kings, the restoration of the Davidic king to the throne was accompanied by a renewal of the covenant. All Jerusalem celebrated the great day. The people went wild with joy, destroying Athaliah’s Baal temple and all that belonged to it (17-21).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

JOASH WAS ANOINTED AND PROCLAIMED TO BE KING OF JUDAH

"And the captains over hundreds did all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, that were to come in on the sabbath, with those that were to go out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. And the priest delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been king David's, which were in the house of Jehovah. And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, by the king round about. Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, Long live the king!"

"The spears and shields that had been king David's" "The priests would not normally have had weapons; and thus the explanation is here given that these weapons had been stored in the tabernacle by David,"George DeHoff's Commentary, Vol. 2, p. 322. and later deposited in the temple by Solomon.

Anointed by the High Priest as king, formally proclaimed in the sacred area of the temple itself, and hailed with the traditional cry, "Long live the king!" Joash was elevated at the age of seven years to a position that he would hold for more than forty years.

"The presence of a multitude indicates that this revolution occurred on a feast day."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 351. Jehoiada had not neglected any of the details of his conspiracy against Athaliah.

"And (they) gave him the testimony" Stigers declared that this "testimony" included at least the Decalogue;Ibid. but the view of this writer is that it included, as a bare minimum, the Five Books of Moses, commonly called the Pentateuch. Without that entire corpus of sacred writings, the continuity of Israel with its elaborate system of religion could not have survived. even as long as it had already existed at that time. We reject out of hand the foolish efforts of critics to render the word for "testimony" in this place as "bracelets."International Critical Commentary, Kings, p. 420. "Handcuffs" simply don't fit this situation at all!

Keil here identified the "testimony" as the "Book of the Law," the Torah, indicating that it would be the rule of his life and action as king, according to the precept in Deuteronomy 17:18-19.C. F. Keil, Keil and Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 3b, p. 362.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The testimony - i. e., “The Book of the Law” which was kept in the ark of the covenant (Dent. 31:26). This Jehoiada placed ou the king’s head at the moment of coronation, perhaps to indicate that the king was not to be above, but under, the direction of the Law of his country.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 11

Now going back twenty-eight years. We go back now to when Jehu first became king, he killed Ahaziah, the king of Judah. And Ahaziah was the son of Athaliah, who was the daughter or a relationship to Jezebel. And there was an intermarriage there tying the kingdoms together.

Now Athaliah [the wicked queen,] when she heard that her son Ahaziah was killed, immediately she went out and killed all of the rest of the children of her son ( 2 Kings 11:1 ).

Or all of her grandchildren in order that she might reign as queen. In order that there be no heirs to the throne so that she could reign as queen. Now one of the children of Ahaziah, a baby, Jehosheba was hid away. This nurse took him and ran into the temple, and there they hid him and they raised him secretly for six years so that he was preserved. Athaliah wasn't able to kill him, and he was preserved and brought up actually in the temple and raised there in the temple in disguise for six years.

Now when he was seven years old, the priest who had more or less raised him, Jehoiada, sent out through all of Judah for all of the captains and all to come. And when he gathered them all together, he swore them to secrecy. And being a priest of God, made them swear by the Lord that they wouldn't reveal anything. And having sworn them all to secrecy, then he brought forth Jehosheba and he said, "Here is the descendant of David." You see, Athaliah wasn't the descendant of David. Here is the descendant of David to reign upon the throne. And now he says, "We're going to divide into three companies. And I want a part of you guys to surround the king. And I want a part of you to surround the temple. And surround the city, and we're going to proclaim him king."

And so they gathered together for the celebration, and they took this seven-year-old boy who was a descendant of David and they gathered all together.

They were all standing there and they brought him forth, and they put the crown on his head; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they all began to clap their hands, and say, God save the king. Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the guards and the people, she came into the temple of the LORD [to see what was going on]. And when she saw the king standing by the pillar, as was the manner of the king, and all of the princes and the trumpeters around him, and the people of the land rejoicing: then Athaliah tore her clothes, and she cried, Treason, Treason. And Jehoiada the priest said, [Get her out of here. Don't kill her in the temple but take her out and kill her.] So they laid hands on her; and they took her out: and killed her. And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD'S people ( 2 Kings 11:12-17 ).

So there came now a time of sort of spiritual revival as we have now a king who was raised in the temple under the strong influence of the priest. And now in conjunction with Jehoiada, the proclamation that the people are going to really turn back again and worship the Lord, Yahweh.

And all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and they broke it down; his altars, the images they broke in pieces thoroughly, they slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And they took the rulers, and the captains, and the people of the land; and they brought down to the king from the house of the LORD. And the king was placed upon the throne. And all of the people rejoiced, the city was quiet. And he was seven years old when he began to reign as king ( 2 Kings 11:18-21 ).

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Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

God’s preservation of a legitimate king 11:1-12

Athaliah was the mother of the Judean king Ahaziah, whom Jehu assassinated (2 Kings 9:27-29). She was a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and the sister of the Israelite kings Ahaziah and Joram, who had succeeded Ahab. She was the wife of the Judean king Jehoram, who had died of intestinal disease (2 Chronicles 21:18-19). Raiding Philistines and Arabians had killed her other sons besides Ahaziah (2 Chronicles 21:17).

Athaliah proceeded to assassinate all potential successors to the throne, totally disregarding God’s will that David’s descendants were to rule Judah (2 Samuel 7:16).

"It was one of the many attempts Satan made to exterminate the male offspring to make the coming One, the promised Savior, the seed of the woman, impossible. Had he succeeded through Athaliah in the destruction of the royal seed of David, the promise made to David would have become impossible." [Note: Gaebelein, 1:330.]

Jehosheba was a daughter of Athaliah’s husband, King Jehoram. She may not have been Athaliah’s own daughter, but was the half-sister of King Ahaziah of Judah, and the wife of the high priest in Judah, Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 22:11). [Note: Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 9:7:1.] She hid Jehoash (Joash), as Jochebed had hidden Moses (Exodus 2). According to Josephus, Jehosheba hid Jehoash in a room used to store spare furniture and mattresses. [Note: Ibid.]

The Carites (another spelling of Cherethites; cf. 2 Samuel 8:18; et al.) were special guards. The other guards (2 Kings 11:4) were priests and Levites (2 Chronicles 23:4).

When the high priest crowned Jehoash (Joash), who was then seven years old, he gave him a copy of the Mosaic Law consistent with what the Law required (Deuteronomy 17:18-19). This is the basis for the British custom of presenting the new king or queen of England with a copy of the Bible during the coronation ceremony. [Note: Wiseman, p. 233.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Athaliah’s evil reign in Judah 11:1-20

Queen Athaliah usurped the throne of Judah. She was not a descendant of David. She was one of the 20 rulers of Judah, however. She was Judah’s only reigning queen and the strongest Baal advocate among Judah’s rulers.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And he brought forth the king's son,.... Out of the apartment in the temple where he had been brought up:

and put the crown upon him; the crown royal, which seems to have been kept in the temple:

and gave him the testimony; the book of the law, which he was to read in all his days, and according to it govern the people; and which was a testimony of the will of God both to him and them: Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of royal garments put upon him:

and they made him king, and anointed him; proclaimed and declared him king, and anointed him, for the confirmation of it, because of the pretension Athaliah made to the kingdom; otherwise, as the Jewish writers say, the son of a king was not anointed; and hence, they say, it was, that Solomon was anointed, because of the claim of Adonijah:

and they clapped their hands; in token of joy:

and said, God save the king; or, "let the king live"; or, "may he prosper", as the Targum; may health and prosperity attend him in his government. In 2 Chronicles 23:11, it is said; "Jehoiada and his sons anointed him", and said those words; among whom must be Zechariah, whom this king afterwards slew, which was an instance of great ingratitude, 2 Chronicles 24:20.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      4 And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and showed them the king's son.   5 And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you that enter in on the sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king's house;   6 And a third part shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down.   7 And two parts of all you that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of the LORD about the king.   8 And ye shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand: and he that cometh within the ranges, let him be slain: and be ye with the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in.   9 And the captains over the hundreds did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they took every man his men that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that should go out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.   10 And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of the LORD.   11 And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple.   12 And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.

      Six years Athaliah tyrannised. We have not a particular account of her reign; no doubt it was of a piece with the beginning. While Jehu was extirpating the worship of Baal in Israel, she was establishing it in Judah, as appears, 2 Chronicles 24:7. The court and kingdom of Judah had been debauched by their alliance with the house of Ahab, and now one of that house is a curse and a plague to both: sinful friendships speed no better. All this while, Joash lay hid, entitled to a crown and intended for it, and yet buried alive in obscurity. Though the sons and heirs of heaven are now hidden, the world knows them not (1 John 3:1), yet the time is fixed when they shall appear in glory, as Joash in his seventh year; by that time he was ready to be shown, not a babe, but, having served his first apprenticeship to life and arrived at his first climacterical year, he had taken a good step towards manhood; by that time the people had grown weary of Athaliah's tyranny and ripe for a revolution. How that revolution was effected we are here told.

      I. The manager of this great affair was Jehoiada the priest, probably the high priest, or at least the sagan (as the Jews called him) or suffragan to the high priest. By his birth and office he was a man in authority, whom the people were bound by the law to observe and obey, especially when there was no rightful king upon the throne, Deuteronomy 17:12. By marriage he was allied to the royal family, and, if all the seed-royal were destroyed, his wife, as daughter to Joram, had a better title to the crown than Athaliah had. By his eminent gifts and graces he was fitted to serve his country, and better service he could not do it than to free it from Athaliah's usurpation; and we have reason to think he did not make this attempt till he had first asked counsel of God and known his mind, either by prophets or Urim, perhaps by both.

      II. The management was very discreet and as became so wise and good a man as Jehoiada was.

      1. He concerted the matter with the rulers of hundreds and the captains, the men in office, ecclesiastical, civil, and military; he got them to him to the temple, consulted with them, laid before them the grievances they at present laboured under, gave them an oath of secresy, and, finding them free and forward to join with him, showed them the king's son (2 Kings 11:4; 2 Kings 11:4), and so well satisfied were they with his fidelity that they saw no reason to suspect an imposition. We may well think what a pleasing surprise it was to the good people among them, who feared that the house and lineage of David were quite cut off, to find such a spark as this in the embers.

      2. He posted the priests and Levites, who were more immediately under his direction, in the several avenues to the temple, to keep the guard, putting them under the command of the rulers of hundreds,2 Kings 11:9; 2 Kings 11:9. David had divided the priests into courses, which waited by turns. Every sabbath-day morning a new company came into waiting, but the company of the foregoing week did not go out of waiting till the sabbath evening, so that on the sabbath day, when double service was to be done, there was a double number to do it, both those that were to come in and those that were to go out. These Jehoiada employed to attend on this great occasion; he armed them out of the magazines of the temple with David's spears and shields, either his own or those he had taken from his enemies, which he devoted to God's honour, 2 Kings 11:10; 2 Kings 11:10. If they were old and unfashionable, yet those that used them might, by their being David's, be reminded of God's covenant with him, which they were now acting in the defence of. Two things they were ordered to do:-- (1.) To protect the young king from being insulted; they must keep the watch of the king's house (2 Kings 11:5; 2 Kings 11:5), compass the king, and be with him (2 Kings 11:8; 2 Kings 11:8), to guard him from Athaliah's partizans, for still there were those that thirsted after royal blood. (2.) To preserve the holy temple from being profaned by the concourse of people that would come together on this occasion (2 Kings 11:6; 2 Kings 11:6): Keep the watch of the house, that it be neither broken through nor broken down, and so strangers should crowd in, or such as were unclean. He was not so zealous for the projected revolution as to forget his religion. In times of the greatest hurry care must be taken, Ne detrimentum capiat ecclesia--That the holy things of God be not trenched upon. It is observable that Jehoiada appointed to each his place as well as his work (2 Kings 11:6; 2 Kings 11:7), for good order contributes very much to the expediting and accomplishing of any great enterprise. Let every man know, and keep, and make good, his post, and then the work will be done quickly.

      3. When the guards were fixed, then the king was brought forth, 2 Kings 11:12; 2 Kings 11:12. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion! for even in thy holy mountain thy king appears, a child indeed, but not such a one as brings a woe upon the land, for he is the son of nobles, the son of David (Ecclesiastes 10:17)-- a child indeed, but he had a good guardian, and, which was better, a good God, to go to. Jehoiada, without delay, proceeded to the coronation of this young king; for, though he was not yet capable of despatching business, he would be growing up towards it by degrees. This was done with great solemnity, 2 Kings 11:12; 2 Kings 11:12. (1.) In token of his being invested with kingly power, he put the crown upon him, though it was yet too large and heavy for his head. The regalia, it is probable, were kept in the temple, and so the crown was ready at hand. (2.) In token of his obligation to govern by law, and to make the word of God his rule, he gave him the testimony, put into his hand a Bible, in which he must read all the days of his life,Deuteronomy 17:18; Deuteronomy 17:19. (3.) In token of his receiving the Spirit, to qualify him for this great work to which he before was called, he anointed him. Though notice is taken of the anointing of the kings only in case of interruption, as here, and in Solomon's case, yet I know not but the ceremony might be used for all their kings, at least those of the house of David, because their royalty was typical of Christ's, who was to be anointed above his fellows, above all the sons of David. (4.) In token of the people's acceptance of him and subjection to his government, they clapped their hands for joy, and expressed their hearty good wishes to him: Let the king live; and thus they made him king, made him their king, consented to, and concurred with, the divine appointment. They had reason to rejoice in the period now put to Athaliah's tyranny, and the prospect they had of the restoration and establishment of religion by a king under the tuition of so good a man as Jehoiada. They had reason to bid him welcome to the crown whose right it was, and to pray, Let him live, concerning him who came to them as life from the dead and in whom the house of David was to live. With such acclamations of joy and satisfaction must the kingdom of Christ be welcomed into our hearts when his throne is set up there and Satan the usurper is deposed. Hosanna, blessed is he that comes: clap hands, and say, "Let King Jesus live, for ever live and reign, in my soul, and in all the world;" it is promised (Psalms 72:15), He shall live, and prayer shall be made for him, and his kingdom, continually.