Year One, December 9

As for Me, I Have Set Up My King on Zion, My Holy Hill1

2 Kings 11:1-4; 10-18; 20

1Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family. (Like a true descendant of Ahab, she stopped at nothing that could promote her own ambition. She earned the name, “Athaliah that wicked woman.”2 She almost succeeded in destroying David’s descendants, but the Lord would not allow that to happen. The scepter could not be taken from the tribe of Judah until the Messiah came. The covenant promise to David was connected to the birth of Jesus Christ. It was not possible for God’s word to be broken.) 2But 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, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death. 3And he remained with her six years, hidden in house of the LORD, while Athaliah reigned over the land. (Athaliah was not likely to go to the Lord’s house to find the child, because she rarely visited that sacred place. David had lovingly cared for God’s house and now the Lord protects the hope of his servant’s race in the rooms of the temple.)

4But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the Carites and of the guards, and had them come to him in the house of the LORD. And he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the LORD, and he showed them the king’s son.

Jehoiada appointed these people to be the king’s bodyguard when he brought him into the open to be crowned.

Matthew Henry3 remarks that Jehoiada was a man of great wisdom, because he kept the prince in the background until a time when the people were fed up with Athaliah’s tyranny. He was a man of great influence; the Levites and all Judah did as he commanded. He was a man of great faith; in the darkest times he said, “Behold, the king’s son! Let him reign, as the LORD spoke concerning the sons of David.”4 He was a man of great religion; he returned the worship of the Lord all over the land. He was a man of great determination; he went boldly through with his loyal plan and carried it out to final success.

10And the priest gave to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the LORD. 11And the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house on behalf of the king. 12Then he brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”

13When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the LORD to the people. 14And when she looked, 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!” (Yet she was herself the greatest traitor. Her cries were useless. Her tyranny and cruelty had lost her any friends she may have had. No one lifted a hand or voice in her defense.)

15Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains who were set over the army, “Bring her out between the ranks, and put to death with the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest said, “Let her not be put to death in the house of the LORD.” 16So they laid hands on her; and she went through the horses’ entrance to the king’s house, and there she was put to death.

The last of Ahab’s family was put to death. Like Jezebel before her, this fierce and overbearing woman was rushed to her destruction.

17And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people, that they should be the LORD’s people, and also between the king and the people. 18Then 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, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the LORD.

20aSo all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. (The holy influence of one great and good man brought the nation back to its previous condition. True worship of the Lord returned and the idols were removed. When God’s Spirit is in a person they can sway the hearts of thousands. Lord, send us such people in both church and government.)

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¹ Psalm 2:6

² 2 Chronicles 24:7

³ Matthew Henry (1662-1714). Pastor and Bible commentator.

⁴ 2 Chronicles 23:3