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2 Kings 11
The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.
Athaliah and the hidden king
1 Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal seed. 2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king's sons who were being put to death, him and his nurse, and put them in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death. 3 And he was with her in the house of Yahweh, hidden for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
Jehoiada makes Joash king
4 But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of hundreds, of the Carites and of the guard, and had them come to him in the house of Yahweh. And he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of Yahweh, and he showed them the king's son. 5 And he commanded them, saying, "This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, those who come on duty on the Shabbat, shall keep watch over the king's house; 6 one third shall be at the gate Sur, and one third at the gate behind the guard. So you shall keep watch over the house as a barrier. 7 And the two divisions of you, all who go off duty on the Shabbat, shall keep watch over the house of Yahweh around the king. 8 You shall surround the king on every side, each man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever comes within the ranks shall be put to death. Be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in." 9 So the captains of hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each took his men, those who were to come on duty on the Shabbat with those who were to go off duty on the Shabbat, and they came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 And the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of Yahweh. 11 And the guard stood, each man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, by the altar and the house, around the king. 12 Then he brought out the king's son and put on him the crown and the testimony; and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, "Long live the king!"
13 When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people in the house of Yahweh. 14 And she looked, and there was the king, standing by the pillar according to the custom, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. And Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, "Treason! Treason!" 15 Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds, who were appointed over the army, and said to them, "Bring her out between the ranks, and anyone who follows her, put to death with the sword." For the priest had said, "Let her not be put to death in the house of Yahweh." 16 So they laid hands on her, and she went by the way of the horses' entrance to the king's house, and there she was put to death.
The covenant renewed
17 And Jehoiada made the covenant between Yahweh and the king and the people, that they should be Yahweh's people; also between the king and the people. 18 And all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Yahweh. 19 And he took the captains of hundreds, the Carites, the guard and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of Yahweh and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house. And he sat on the throne of the kings. 20 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; and they had put Athaliah to death with the sword at the king's house. 21 Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.
Notes
- 11:1 Athaliah was of Ahab's house (8:18, 26), and with her son dead she seized the throne of Judah for herself. By destroying "all the royal seed" she struck at the line to which Yahweh had promised, "your throne shall be established forever" (2 Samuel 7:16). That promise now rested on one infant, saved by his aunt Jehosheba, whom Chronicles calls the wife of Jehoiada the priest (2 Chronicles 22:11).
- 11:4 The Carites (kari) were part of the royal guard; many think they were foreign soldiers, perhaps from Caria in Asia Minor, like the Cherethites of David's guard (the written Hebrew text of 2 Samuel 20:23 has the same word). "The guard" is literally "the runners," the men who ran before the king's chariot and kept his door (1 Kings 14:27-28). Jehoiada needed the soldiers who guarded the palace to make the hidden heir king.
- 11:7 The guards served in weekly shifts that changed on the Shabbat. The details of verses 5-7 are hard to follow, but the plan seems to have used the change of watch: the company coming on duty took its posts as usual, while the companies going off duty, instead of leaving, stayed to guard the young king in the house of Yahweh. In this way twice the usual number of armed men were in place without raising suspicion. Chronicles tells the same event with the Levites and priests on duty (2 Chronicles 23:4-8).
- 11:12 "The crown" is nezer, a word tied to consecration, also used of the high priest's "holy crown" (Exodus 29:6). "The testimony" (ha-edut) is not explained; in the Torah the word names the tablets of the covenant (Exodus 25:16). Many understand it here as a written copy of the covenant law handed to the new king, recalling the command that a king "shall write for himself a copy of this Torah in a book" and read it all his life (Deuteronomy 17:18-19); others think of a royal document or emblem. The text does not say more.
- 11:17 The covenant has two sides. First, king and people bind themselves to Yahweh "that they should be Yahweh's people," the heart of Israel's covenant with Yahweh (Deuteronomy 26:17-18); after years under a queen from Ahab's house, Judah returns to its Elohim. Then the king and the people make a covenant with each other, as the elders of Israel did with David at Hebron (2 Samuel 5:3). The breaking of Baal's house follows at once (verse 18).
- 11:21 In Hebrew Bibles this verse is 12:1, and chapter 12 is numbered one higher (verses 1-21 are 12:2-22). The Hebrew calls the young king both Joash (Yoash) and Jehoash (Yehoash), two forms of one name, usually explained as "Yahweh has given"; in English the TRB follows the form of each verse, and Spanish uses Joás for both.