Ver. 1. And when Athaliah.] Ahab’s daughter by Jezebel: Gotholiah, the Septuagint and Sulpitius call her; a most wicked woman, another Medea, by whom the devil sought utterly to root out that race whereof Christ was to be born. Josephus saith that out of envy—which Augustine calleth vitium diabolicum, a devilish vice—she sought to destroy the house of David, as Jehu had destroyed her father Ahab’s house. Others, that she thus strengthened herself, that she might be revenged upon Jehu. Most likely, she was carried on to this tragic fact by ambition—which ever rideth without reins—and zeal for Baalism, which—to her grief—she saw was now rooted out by Jehu in the kingdom of Israel. Such another imperious whorish woman—as the Scripture speaketh (Ezekiel 16:30) -was Semiramis, queen of Assyria; Tullia, the wife of Tarquinius Superbus; Irene, empress of Constantinople, and mother of Constantinus Copronymus—whose eyes she put out to make him incapable of the empire, that she might reign alone; Drahomira, queen of Bohemia; and Brumchildis, queen of France, who is said to have been the death of ten princes of the blood, and was herself afterwards put to a cruel death by king Cletharius. But the likest in cruelty to Athaliah was Laodice, the wife of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia; who, her husband being dead, seized upon the government, raged cruelly against all sorts both of the nobility and commons, whom she caused to be murdered; yea, against her own family, poisoning six of her own sons, that so she might keep the kingdom more securely: only one little one escaped her fury, whom the people at last advanced to the crown, and slew her. Destroyed all.] Conatu scilicet, non effectu: she endeavoured it, but God remembered his promise to David, to leave him a lamp in Jerusalem, (1 Kings 15:4) and to this promise Joash owed his life and kingdom. In Ps. cxxxix. Herodot. L. Flor. AEn. Sylv. Baron., A.D. 614.— Lips.
Ver. 2. And stole him from among the king’s sons.] Out of the nursery; but how he should escape Athaliah’s bloody hands, is hard to say; whether by bribing the assassins, or substituting another child, &c. The nurse of Mauricius, the emperor’s child, offered her own to be slain by that bloody Phocas, to preserve her foster child’s life, the son of the emperor. So that he was not slain.] No more was Theodosius, though in great danger of death by the superstition of Valens, his predecessor; who, being told by the soothsayers that one should succeed him in the empire, whose name began with those four letters, θ, ε, ο, δ, killed many that were called Theodori, Theodoti, Theoduli, &c., and among the rest, Theodosiolus, the father of Theodosius, whom God nevertheless preserved to the empire from the bloody hands of that wretched Arian.
Ver. 3. And he was with her hid, &c.,] i.e., With his aunt Jehosheba, (2 Kings 11:2) a king’s daughter, and yet a priest’s wife. Athaliah either believed that Joash was slain with the rest of his brethren, or else she held it no policy to hold that he was alive, lest the people should hanker and hearken after him.
Ver. 4. And the seventh year.] When now the young prince was full seven years old, (2 Kings 11:21) and able to say—as Grave Maurice did to the States when they doubted to choose him their general, because young— Tandem fit sureulus arbor, a twig in time comes to be a tall tree, might he have but princely education and dignity. Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds.] Five of them only at first, (2 Chronicles 23:1,2) and then many other Levites, and chief of the fathers of Israel (ibid.), to whom he communicated the matter, and by whom he wrought upon the rest to join, and yield their best assistance.
Ver. 5. And he commanded them.] For he was protector of the young king, and προβολον της αληθειας —as Theodoret styleth Athanasius—the Bulwark of Truth. That enter in on the Sabbath.] So that the deposing Of Athaliah and her idolatry, the setting up of Joash, and with him, of true religion, was a Sabbath day’s work, and well it might be: Jehoiada—for the purpose—taking in the new company of Levites that came in their course, and not dismissing the old till this great work was over. Of the king’s house.] Which was very near the temple; however it was with Athaliah, and the recently revolted princes of Judah, according to the common word, The nearer to the church, the farther from God.
Ver. 6. At the gate of Sur.] So called, saith Martyr, from declining or departing; because the door keepers made the unclean decline from it.
Ver. 7. Shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord.] To keep the place from pollution, and the young king from danger.
Ver. 8. Let him be slain.] Military discipline was in this case most necessary to be observed; neither would bloodshed have been any profanation of the temple.
Ver. 9. That Jehoiada the priest.] The high priest, saith Vatablus; though some others hold him to have been only a priest and a prime man.
Ver. 10. King David’s spears and shields.] Kept in the temple for trophies and tokens of thanksgiving: such as were Goliath’s sword, (1 Samuel 21:9) and the Syrians’ shields. (2 Samuel 8:7,11)
Ver. 11. From the right corner of the temple,] i.e., From north to south.
Ver. 12. And gate him the testimony.] That is, The Book of Deuteronomy, according to Deuteronomy 17:18,19, or some other book wherein the law was registered, (2 Chronicles 23:11) called the Testimony, because it testifieth of God’s will and men’s duty, and is the best rule of ruledom; far beyond Lipsius’s “Beehive,” or Machiavel’s “Spider Web.” Queen Elizabeth, at her coronation, took the Bible—presented to herewith both her hands, and, kissing it, laid it to her breast, saying, that the same had ever been her chiefest delight, and should be the rule whereby she meant to frame her government. Speed’s Chron.
Ver. 13. And when Athaliah heard.] See on 2 Kings 11:1. She came to the people.] Without any mistrust or fear; but not without a special providence, that the warders might have her in their power.
Ver. 14. And cried, Treason, treason!] Though herself were a usurper and a traitor, yet she thus crieth out; so do some sectaries, “Persecution, persecution,” with as good pretence.
Ver. 15. And him that followeth her,] sc., To defend her and adhere to her; which none did, for they were all weary of her tyrannical government, and glad to be rid of her.
Ver. 16. The way by the which the horses came.] So that she was trampled, haply, by the horses, as her mother had been; howsoever, she was slain among the stables and dunghills of the king’s house. Josephus saith that she was carried down to the town ditch, and there despatched.
Ver. 17. And Jehoiada made a covenant.] Both sacred and civil: and they set forthwith upon the work of reformation, which prospered in their hands: for they pulled down Baal’s temples, and slew Mattan the priest before his altars. (2 Kings 11:18)
Ver. 18. And brake it down.] As Israel had done before them. And the priest.] Jehoiada. See on 2 Kings 11:9. Over the house of the Lord.] Which the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah, perhaps her bastards, had broken up, and bestowed all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord upon Balaam. (2 Chronicles 24:7) So that there was but need of officers, or offices, to set things in order again.
Ver. 19. And came by the way of the gate of the guard.] Called the high gate, (2 Chronicles 23:20) by reason of the fairness and height of it; and the new gate. (Jeremiah 36:10)
Ver. 20. And they slew Athaliah with the sword] This being done by the consent of the whole people, or of the greater part, Deo fiebat auspice, saith Zuinglius, had God’s approbation; seeing she was both a usurper and a tyrant. Beside the king’s house.] Congrue ibi caeditur ubl peccarat; she suffereth where she had most sinned.
Ver. 21. Seven years old.] So that he was anniculus, about one year old when he was sought for to the slaughter. Athaliah might well have written as Mary Queen of Scots did in a window at Fotheringay castle, “From the top of all my trust, Mishap hath laid me in the dust.”