2 Chronicleschapter 23
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Speaks with:2 Kings 11×132 Chronicles 6×21 Chronicles 23×21 Chronicles 26×2Nehemiah 9×21 Chronicles 25×2
Summary
Chapter summary
In the seventh year Jehoiada the priest acts. He brings the captains of hundreds into covenant, gathers the Levites and heads of fathers' houses out of all the cities, and stations them by courses with David's spears and shields: 'let no man come into the house of Jehovah, save the priests.' The king's son is brought out, crowned, given the testimony, and anointed, with clapping and trumpets and the cry, God save the king. Athaliah tears her clothes and cries 'Treason! treason!' and is put to death outside the temple precinct. Jehoiada makes a covenant that they should be Jehovah's people; the house of Baal is torn down and Mattan its priest slain; the temple courses are restored, and the city is quiet.
Context
History · Ezra — 2 Chronicles overview
- A. 1–11 Jehoiada's covenant with the captains, and the king's son crowned
- B. 12–15 Treason! Athaliah dragged out to the horse gate
- C. 16–21 Baal's altars broken and the city made quiet again
The outline
A.Jehoiada's covenant with the captains, and the king's son crownedvv. 1 to 11
Read vv. 1 to 11 →B.Treason! Athaliah dragged out to the horse gatevv. 12 to 15
Read vv. 12 to 15 →C.Baal's altars broken and the city made quiet againvv. 16 to 21
Read vv. 16 to 21 →
The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 23The history
The plan is built entirely out of the temple's own routine, which is why it worked. The priests and Levites served in weekly courses, so every Sabbath one course came on duty and another went off — a day when large numbers of armed Levites in the courts would surprise no one. Jehoiada simply ordered both the incoming and outgoing shifts to stay.
He first brought the commanders of hundreds into a covenant, then gathered Levites and heads of families from all the towns of Judah, so the conspiracy had national backing before a sword was drawn.
The weapons came out of the temple stores — the spears and shields that had belonged to King David, kept in the house of God. Sanctuaries doubled as armories across the ancient world.
The boy is brought out, given the crown and 'the testimony' — most likely a copy of the covenant law that the king was required to keep by his side — and set by the pillar at the entrance, the king's appointed standing place. Athaliah, hearing the noise, tears her clothes and cries treason, and is taken outside the temple to the horse gate before she is killed, because Jehoiada refused to have her executed in the house of the LORD.
The chapter is emphatic that no one entered the house except the priests and the ministering Levites — the same rule the first hearers lived under.
What it meant to them
A priest saved the line of David by knowing the duty roster. That is the sort of detail this book keeps, because the roster was not bureaucracy to it; it was the structure that held the nation together when the throne failed.
The covenant Jehoiada then makes — between the LORD, the king, and the people, that they should be the LORD's people — is the same three-cornered agreement the returned community renewed under Nehemiah.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Chronicles
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 23. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.